Tambourine Rabu
by YaoiIsLove
Summary: Tumbling/タンブリング. A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces? Ryosuke/Mizusawa YAOI!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. With new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Wild card?" the Karasumori High rhythmic gymnastics team yelled in unison. Kashiwagi smiled at them in that sheepish way, nodding his head.

"Actually the thing is…"

Shoko cut him off, stepping forward in that manner that demanded their intention. "One of the top two qualifying teams from Yokohama will not be competing. As such five wild card teams from different cities were chosen to compete for the last National team placing. The wild card competition will be held in two weeks and will be judged by the National board. Two of the competing teams scored in the 18 range so I suggest you improve your techniques."

"Uh hai, as Shoko-sensei said."

"Wild card? This means we still have a chance at Nationals, right?" Wataru asked. "Right, baba."

The woman's eyebrow twitched at the name that had become a term of endearment to the former Yankee. "Clean up your triple back hand spring or you won't have a chance," she huffed turning on her heel and leaving their changing room.

"Minna," Satoshi called in his excitement.

"A second chance!" Wataru yelled. "One last chance for us third years, we can still bring a reward to this school for the boys, and we'll rub it in the baba's face."

"Captain," Hino asked, from his spot on the couch. Yuuta looked at him before looking down at the ground.

"Minna, our dream isn't over yet," he whispered. "But we'll have to work twice as hard if we want to make nationals. We should start by cleaning up the triple and after words, if minna is up to the task adding a back tuck at the end of the pass."

Mizusawa nodded in agreement. "We need more advanced techniques and a back tuck would definitely boost us by a quarter of a point. However, to propel oneself into a back tuck we need more power after the third hand spring."

"Anou, sempai," Satoshi called, picking up a folder from his bag. They turned to look at the weak hearted boy with quizzical looks. "Actually when you were all talking about this being your last chance I decided to go look information on university teams. Because I don't think sempai should quit and many universities offer money to their athletes."

"Then we could all go to the same university and dominate," Wataru declared, wrapping an arm around both their captain and his best friend, Ryosuke. "Think of how many chicks you could pick up, Ryosuke."

Ryosuke was about to open his mouth to retort when Hino cut him off. "What are the qualifications to even be considered?"

Satoshi looked at his fellow second year, opening his folder. "A triple back hand spring is required."

"We've all mastered that," Wataru smirked. His mom had been worried about him after high school and she had plans for him to work at the bar but if he could get into university there would be no worries.

"Each candidate is also required to perform a back tuck, a full back flip…"

"Nothing I haven't done before," Wataru boasted.

"You also need a stag hand stand, but sempai here is where it gets complicated. You need a tumbling pass with a twist, either tuck or full body. Two controlled falls and a controlled fall out of a triple back, full body twist. Also, a spring forward tumbling pass." At this Wataru's face fell. He had lost Satoshi completely after he said back tuck, even Ryosuke and Kiyama were staring at the boy in confusion. Kaneko adjusted his glasses giving a nervous cough, while Yuuta looked uncomfortable.

"They're all upper level techniques. Universities don't expect you to perform them perfectly at try-outs but they expect you to perform them," Mizusawa clarified. He himself could only perform a few of those tricks, he was uncomfortable with controlled falls as they always turned into real falls.

"Let's get to practice," Yuuta decided. They would focus on wild card auditions now, not university. Wataru yelled at the boy to wait but Yuuta did not heed his path to the gym. The red-head continued to yell even as they entered the gym, alerting Shoko to their presence much to her annoyance. She wished just once they could enter the gym without the echo. Kashiwagi-sensei wisely told the boys to stretch so they could get to practice but Wataru was not ready to let the subject drop.

"Mizusawa has been practicing a new trick for sometime," Hino pointed out, stretching his arm to the left.

Said boy looked away from the prying eyes. "I just thought it would be something useful and I had started attempting it before Kanto but it's still not perfect. I'm getting the power but not the speed."

"Mizusawa-sempai, ganbatte," Satoshi cheered him on.

"Let's see it," his former crush pushed.

The boy looked at his friends before nodding and going to the edge of the mat. "Mizusawa, FIGHTO!" Nippori yelled, soon joined by Ryosuke and his other friends cheered him on. The girls turned their eyes to the quiet soft spoken boy as he took a deep breath. Running a few steps he dove into a round off, turning his body backwards for three quick succession back hand springs. The moment he felt his toes touched the mat he forced all his strength into his legs propelling his body forward. Pulling his legs to him he turned his body in the air in a tucking twist. His eyes found the ground and he almost thought he would succeed in the landing only to fall on his butt.

"That was amazing sempai," Satoshi awed, followed by sounds of approval from the rest of the team.

"Mizusawa," Shoko called. "Keep your body tighter on the back hand springs. On the twisting tuck keep your arms straight and they'll find the ground first and making the landing smoother. Try it again and do a forward tuck landing on the ground. Don't be afraid to hit the mat."

"Hai, sensei," he nodded, going back to his starting point. Taking another deep breath he began running once again diving into his starting pass, this time when he propelled his body forward in a simple forward tuck he felt it was to simple and easily slammed to the ground on his hands and toes before rolling into a somersault to his knees. She nodded in approval, the girls clapping theirs with smiles.

"Perfect that first and then move onto the twist. Back to practice."

Yuuta smiled to his friend, patting him on the back. "Hino. Mizusawa. Both of you work on the twist layout and we can add that to the first pass. It will boast our level of difficulty for sure."

"Let's not be wimps," Wataru declared. "On our group pass let's add the back flip. Nippori. Ryousuke, I'll teach you guys."

"Wataru, you can't just say 'let's do it' and then we can. If we were to add that element our forms and movements would have to be perfectly synchronized even in the air. A back tuck would be much simpler to choreograph. "

"Besides that, Kiyama-san's wrist is still healing and Nippori and I had enough trouble getting the power to before the triple back," Kaneko fretted, fiddling with his glasses.

"HEY WHAT'S THAT TALK?" Nippori yelled. "If Aniki says we can do it then we can do it."

"Minna, perhaps you should work on the leg lifts," Kashiwagi interjected. "That way no one is hurting themselves or having to use injured limbs." The 8 boys nodded taking their places on the mat.

Yuuta counted them off before they lifted their right legs back into their balance. "4...5...6..."

"Hold it till 11," Shoko called over to them, immediately startling some of them off balance. "National level teams can hold the arabesque for five seconds, you are normally holding it for 3."

"Oi, baba, what are you going on about? Speak in Japanese."

"It's the proper term for the leg lift segment," Hino answered. "It's an arabesque, and sensei is right, we should hold it longer. Captain?"

"Ah, we need to match National level. Let's go again. Ready? 1..2..3.." their arms swept forward before lifting their legs back into the graceful pose. "4...5...6..."

"Kiyama-sempai lift your leg a bit higher. Nippori, ganbatte, you can do it," Satoshi cheered on.

"11.." Yuuta counted, lowering his leg. "Satoshi, how did it look from where you were standing?"

"It's look good, sempai," he smiled.

"Oi, don't sugar coat, we have another chance to get at those Washizu bastards we need to be perfect," Wataru yelled.

"Anou," Satoshi muttered with a weak smile. Walking over to them he went to Kiyama first. Putting one hand on his chest and the other on his back he told Kiyama to not lean forward to gain the leg height. "You want to bring your leg up without tilting forward. Ryosuke-san, you tend to be a little to tense in your arms. You want to be strong but not stiff. Wataru-san, you need to point your toes, you as well Nippori and Kaneko-san."

They nodded. "Again," Wataru cheered. "We'll drew the basics until we get it perfect down to the toes. Yuuta!" he put his fist out to the captain who bumped it.

-o-o-o-

"Taku," the head of the Mizusawa addressed his youngest son. "How is your gymnastics?" It was stiff, the way he asked, but Mizusawa knew his father was trying.

"We'll be auditioning for a wild card spot in Nationals, and I am also thinking of auditioning for Aomori University, they have they best rhythmic gymnastics team in Japan."

"And does the other situation still stand?" he asked a little uncomfortably.

"Yes, father," he nodded, not really liking this choice of subject.

"Perhaps we should attempt a meeting with a nice young man as opposed to those young ladies," his mother suggested making him blush. "But I'm not sure how to tell if a young man is inclined to other men."

"Mother," he blushed, looking down at his rice and pickled vegetables. His elder sister chuckled at the predicament her sibling had found himself in.

"I know of someone so inclined. He's 3 and half years older than Taku and he's single. He's plays baseball so you know he is fit. You like a toned body, Taku," his sister teased. The boy turned redder than his pickled radish and set down his chopsticks.

"I'm going to go to the gym. Okaa-san dinner was delicious. I will be back before 24:00," he bowed, grabbing his gym bag and running out the door. He had come out to his parents last year after their continuous match making and omiai attempts had failed. There was no other choice but to tell them he was attracted to the same sex. To his surprise they did not shun him, but said it was rather expected and partially blamed it on his gymnastics. He choose to ignore this for thanking them for being understanding. While his father continued to try and set him up with females the man was slowly coming to terms that no female would suit his child's tastes.

Taking the stairs two at a time he opened the doors to the gym surprised to see it was not empty. Wataru's best friend ran across the mat attempting a full back flip with a half twist. Mizusawa cringed as he fell on his side not having enough speed to make the rotation. The dirty blonde banged on the mat, cursing to himself before going back to the edge of the mat and trying again.

"Ryosuke?" Mizusawa called, dropping his bag. The former yankee looked back at him sighing.

"I was hoping I would be alone."

"What are you attempting?"

"I was watching videos and I saw this move at the triple back that I wanted to try. It was from a 2005 university finals, first place team. They did the triple back into a full back flip and somehow landed facing forward and roll out into a splits."

"Oh," he nodded. "It's a barely noticeable turn. When they do the back flip they add extra power and just turn their body half way through the move. You have natural talent, Ryosuke, if anyone can pull that off you can. I'll coach you through it."

"Can you do it, Mizusawa?"

"I've never tried it before. I can if you would like," he smiled kindly. Sliding off his shoes and jacket he walked onto the mat. He walked to the corner and raised his arm above his head. Diving back wards he pushed himself into back hand spring after back hand spring keeping his body stiff and his knees together. Pushing off the mat hard he arched his back into a full back flip not with one rotation but two. Half way through second time through the air he turned so that he was facing the mat and rolled forward before he hit it. He jumped up not believing he had just pulled that off himself.

"Now tell me how you did that," Ryosuke demanded.

"It's a double back flip."

"Double?"

"You need enough power to get high in the air and flip backwards at least one and a half time. When you go into the back flip bend your knees further to give you more spring and keep you back arched."

Nodding Ryosuke walked to where he would be during the group pass. Raising his arm he attempted the triple back with a one and a half back flip, a half rotation added to that. He cursed as he crashed to the mat to early. "Fuck," he seethed before running back to attempt it again. After five failed attempts and five obscenities later Mizusawa decided to take a more hands approach.

"Bend your back like this," he ordered, pushing Ryosuke's body into the right positions. "Arms at your side and keep your eyes open. Once you see the floor the second time turn your body so you're facing it again and just roll."

Sighing he went to his starting point again, raising his arm. "Ryosuke, you're the one with natural talent at gymnastics. If you can't do it, neither can I."

"Baka you just did!"

"That's not what I mean. Don't think, just do. Like you always do."

"Don't think?"

"Don't think," Mizusawa nodded. Closing his eyes Ryosuke raised his arm before taking a deep breath and diving backwards. Before he knew it he was in the end splitting position, eyes wide in disbelief. "You did it!" Mizusawa cheered. Ryousuke jumped to his feet pumping his fist into the air.

"Hell yes," he cheered loudly, grabbing Mizusawa into a one armed hug. "Mad skills."

"Natural skills," Mizusawa agreed. Ryosuke pulled the other boy tighter to his side, ruffling his head playfully going between congratulating himself and thanking the other. Somewhere between the constant boasting and ruffling of Mizusawa's hair the two found themselves splayed out on the thick practice mat that had tangled the feet. The tough boy lay over the outed homosexual staring down at him. Until this moment Mizusawa had not unnatural thoughts about his friend. Yet, having the other's body pressed against him and his face so close, their breaths mingling; it was triggering that little tingle in his spine. That flip in his stomach he had felt when he would see Kiyama.

Without thinking he pulled the other boy down, sealing their lips together. A alarm went off in his head when not only did Ryosuke NOT push him away but kissed him back; hand threading through his hair to his nape. Ryosuke's other arm went around Mizusawa's waist pulling him closer. When Mizusawa gasped he was surprised to find Ryousuke's tongue swirling around his own, teasing his own. He couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe he was laying on the mat, in the gym, making out with the person that hurt him most when he was outed. Maybe it was the adrenalin. Maybe there was some strange haze, either way he wasn't going to pull away.

A moan broke them apart almost immediately, he wasn't sure who moaned but the moan brought them back to their senses. Ryosuke stared down at him for a moment, his eyes going wide as saucers. Fast as lightning he untangled himself from the other boy running to gather his things. "Uh..thanks for the help..see you tomorrow..bye…" he called, more like yelled, before running out of the gym.

That night Mizusawa's dreams were filled with the adrenalin filled kiss. A part of him wished there could be more in the future and he knew that any remaining crush he had on Kiyama was now gone.

-o-o-o-

"Where's Ryosuke-sempai," Satoshi asked, looking around at the changing boys. Mizusawa pulled his shirt up to cover his blushing face. He would die if last night's happening got to the team. He didn't want them to think he was attracted to them all, he really wasn't. There was no denying he still thought Kiyama attractive but that was it. Besides he no longer had a crush on Kiyama just…

"Ryosuke called me last night. Hooked up with one of his girlfriends late last night," Wataru told them. "He'll probably be crawling out of bed late, he usually does when he's up all night." Nippori 'woo'd with his aniki while Kiyama sighed telling the few confused boys not to worry about it. Fully dressed Satoshi sat down on the couch next to his favorite sempai. "What was Ryosuke doing that kept him busy?" he innocently asked.

"You'll find out when you get a girlfriend," Kiyama answered, ruffling the kid's hair.

"Ohayou," Ryosuke mumbled, entering the club room, his hair and clothes messy and ruffled. He froze as he caught sight of the still changing Mizusawa. The other boy looked at him for a brief second before turning away to stare intently into his locker. Shaking it off Ryosuke slumped down the stairs collapsing onto the couch.

"Oh-ho, which girl was it this time?" Wataru teased. "Maki-chan?"

"Namiko-chan?"

"Tsumiya-chan?" Wataru and Nippori named off, poking at their friend.

"Veronica-chan," he whistled. The two other's made 'oh' sounds, patting their friend on the back.

"The girl from America, how exotic. She must have been fun."

"Loads of it," he winked, pulling out his phone when he felt it vibrate. "Already wanting more," he winked, closing his phone. Kiyama's eyes narrowed slightly as he had seen the message on the phone and wondered what Ryosuke was playing at.

"I'm going on ahead," Mizusawa called, closing his locker.

"Wait up," Wataru called, jumping over the armchair and following the boy out. In all it took less than five minutes for the locker room to clear out leaving only Kiyama and Ryosuke left to get changed.

"What's going on," Kiyama bluntly asked.

"Nothing, I was with a girl and got up late."

"A girl that sent you a text message calling you a 'jerk for calling the wrong name' and how she never wanted to speak to you again? You don't seem like the type to slip up on names…"

"I got careless, it happened, I have back-ups."

"And what does Mizusawa have to do with this?"

"Why would you think Mizusawa has anything to do with my calling the wrong girl's name during sex?"

"Normally you greet him by knocking on his head or his shoulder, but today you completely avoided eye contact with him. Does this have to do with his 'inclinations'? You see something you'd rather forget? Perhaps him kissing another male? Did you call him disgusting again?"

"Ch' if anyone's disgusting it's me. I kissed him. More or less we kissed last night."

Kiyama swore he felt his jaw fall to the floor, which was a new reaction for him. "On the lips…?"

"I had my tongue down his throat, that what you wanted to hear?" Ryosuke shouted, slamming his locker shut. "I had Mizusawa pinned to the mat, shoving my tongue down his throat. My fucking body even reacted to it. If anyone is disgusting it's me for getting turned on by another guy."

"You really are a moron aren't you? Because he's gay you treat him like a girl? Kiss him and then throw him away? I politely turned down his feelings, it was a shock to me that he had a crush on me but it didn't bother me. People have crushes, he's no different from anyone else. People get crushes and they are attracted to people. If you didn't intend the kiss to happen apologize to him in private and simply tell him you don't want that kind of relationship. Don't be a prick and go have sex with some girl and flaunt it in front of him."

"Look, I'd rather not admit this happened. I'll just forget all about it. We're friends, nothing more. I don't want that kind of relationship and that is that, now can we get to practice," he sneered, practically tearing the door off it hinges. Both former thugs froze at the boy leaning against the wall that was obviously distraught.

"Yu-Yuuta asked m-me to g-get my no-notebook for Sa-satoshi," Mizusawa sniffled.

"Mizusawa.." Ryosuke whispered.

"It never happened," he smiled pathetically. "I don't want you to be disgusting like me, Tsukimori. Please excuse me," he bowed, pushing past them.

Grabbing Ryosuke by his pink shirt collar Kiyama dragged him to the gym before he could say another word. "You've fucked up royally, lets not make it worse."

Back in the clubroom Mizusawa hugged his notebook to his chest, sliding down the wall with shuddering sobs. He was done causing people trouble, done. Pulling out his phone he texted his sister telling her to let him meet that baseball guy. For once he wanted someone to look at him for who he really was and smile at him. Love him back and not think him disgusting.

-chapter 1 owari-


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"We need a stronger ending as well as a new technique, if everyone is willing to make a few changes," Yuuta told the group. "I want to go in the more tango dance movements, their sharp and precise, and convey a message of danger and sensuality without being sensuous. For the ending, here's what I think we should do," he smiled, kneeling down to their miniature versions. "Four around like this and two here in the center. I'm thinking the two here in the center should be Ryousuke and either Hino or Mizusawa. Myself and Wataru in the front two positions and then Kiyama and Hino or Mizusawa in the back. Sorry, Kaneko. Nippori. We need strength for the next technique which Kiyama and Wataru will be able to do."

"But Captain, if this piece is a strong tumbling piece shouldn't you go with stronger tumblers. Kiyama-sempai is still new and you want advanced tumbling passes, right?" Satoshi interjected. "The set up of Hino, Mizusawa-sempai, yourself, Wataru-sempi, and Ryousuke-sempai is perfect but for a sixth strong tumbler. Kaneko-sempai is accurate technically while Nippori-san's passes are always beautiful and Kiyama-sempai is still new."

Yuuta would admit that Satoshi had a good point. The swinging technique would require strength, strength he didn't think Kaneko or Nippori could handle at fast succession. "Mizusawa, work with Kiyama on the thick mats. Start with a standing front tuck and then work your way up."

"Hai, captain," Mizusawa nodded, signaling for Kiyama to follow him.

"The rest of us will work on the triple back full."

"Captain," Ryousuke called. "I've been working on that, and have an idea to make it more advanced. If I may…"

Yuuta nodded, asking the others to clear the mat. Shoko, with her arms crossed, turned her eyes to the boy, watching what he was about to attempt. Putting his arm up he took a deep breath, he wouldn't let his success of this move go to waste, despite what had happened last night. Diving backwards he stopped thinking and just let his body fly through the air in many quick succession graceful arcs. The mat thudded as he hit it facing forward. The girls broke out in applause while Satoshi cooed in his semi-fan boyish way. "Sugoi, that's an upper level National level skill, Ryousuke-san, only a hand full of Senior High students can do it."

"The skill is impressive but how many of the others would be able to pull it off, and if they were able to manage it could the move be in unison? I have no doubt that Hino-kun would be able to pull it off as well as your captain…."

"Mizusawa can do it too," Ryosuke pointed out with a glare.

"Four out of six. With proper training perhaps Azuma could pull it off haphazardly."

"Oi, baba!" Wataru called in offense.

"But you have two new tumblers and a person whose strengths lie in dance and balance."

"But Shoko-sensei, if they were to pull off this new skill.." Kashiwagi asked hopefully.

"It could potentially raise their overall score by a whole point."

"1 point? We got 17.700 at Kanto," Wataru pointed out. "YOSH! Yuuta, lets add in this new skill. If Mizusawa and Ryosuke can already do it then just four of us need to learn it. Two us can already do the back flip."

"Yes, but this is more than a mere back flip. It's a one and a half with a half rotation, the landing is the easiest part of this move. Needless to say the lighter you are the easier you can do it," Hino told them all in that Hino 'I know everything' snarky way.

"Minna.." Yuuta sighed, not sure rather to use this or not. "We can try it, if we can't make it clean then we'll cut it out and still with a triple back full. Ryosuke, help Wataru with this skill. I'll help Kaneko. Hino, you can work with Nippori."

"Hai!" they called in unison.

"Mizusawa?"

"Oh sorry, I was…"

"Staring at Ryosuke?"

Mizusawa averted his eyes to the mats. "To do a front tuck just jump forward bringing your knees to your chest." Kiyama looked at him for a moment before doing as Mizusawa just demonstrated, landing on his feet arms in the air.

"Are you planning to avoid what happened?"

"We'll try a round back hand spring back tuck, alright? If your wrist is up to it."

"My wrist is fine," Kiyama sighed. Mizusawa smiled at him before going to demonstrate what Kiyama needed to do. Giving another sigh Kiyama performed the technique just as he was shown.

"Looks like you're a natural tumbler, as well," Mizusawa smiled.

"I've been training with Satoshi since my wrist got better."

"You shouldn't push it to hard though, you'll re-injure yourself."

"AGAIN!" Wataru yelled having flopped on his back flip. "Hey, Mizusawa, stop flirting with Kiyama and get over here," the red-head teased. Kiyama shot his friend a glare while Mizusawa blushed when the girls snickered.

"I-I wa-wasn't."

"I'll coach Kiyama-san," Satoshi smiled. Mizusawa returned the smile in thanks before joining his other team mates on the large mat. Something in his head told him to look back to make sure Satoshi would be alright and he had to stop himself from an outburst. The touch on Satoshi's waist could be completely innocent, as could that small upturn of Kiyama's lips. Come to think of it, Kiyama had never said he wasn't gay. When his crush came out Kiyama had merely stated he couldn't return his feelings. Maybe Kiyama had feelings for the small ukeish manager that had dragged him on the team.

"Mizusawa we are going to try this ending dance move with Ryosuke. You can go first and then we'll see how it looks with you and then Hino," Yuuta instructed him. Mizusawa nodded, stepping onto the mat to stand by Ryosuke. "Face front. Ryousuke take Mizusawa's right hand in your left."

"What?" the dirty blonde asked.

"Take Mizusawa's hand." Despite his urge to say 'hell no' he did what he was told, feeling the other hand stiffen in his own slightly. "You are going to spin him in twice so his back is facing your front. Mizusawa, wrap your leg around Ryosuke's waist and extend your arms out. Ryosuke follow the line of Mizusawa's left arm with your right. Grip under his right thigh and together spin to the right once before releasing Mizusawa to the floor."

"Touch his thigh…?"

"Is that a problem?" Yuuta asked, confusedly.

"No," the answered in unison.

"On two spin in, Mizusawa.." Yuuta instructed, clapping out the beat. "one…two…"

With a pull from Ryosuke Mizusawa spun into the other boy, only to collide into him. Everyone blinked at the weird movement that seemed extremely awkward. Yuuta shook his head going up to the two. "I don't know what that was, but I'd rather not ask. Mizusawa, you are staying to far away from Ryosuke. You need to put your back to touch his front." Forcing them into place he nodded. "Mizusawa, wrap your leg around Ryosuke's waist, bend your knee halfway and point your toes. Ryosuke, put your hand under Mizusawa's thigh to guide him."

Looking down at the thigh touching his waist he actually contemplated doing it, but then his mid flashed back. The images of him on the mat with Mizusawa, kissing him, touching him. Scowling he pushed back from the other boy. "Can't I just do this with Hino instead? He's smaller."

"Mizusawa-sempai if more graceful in the dance portion. This would be more suited to him as he has longer lines than myself."

"You just have to grip his thigh to secure his balance slightly and help him through the pirouette. Mizusawa, make sure you stand on the tip of your toes."

"Hai, captain," Mizusawa nodded going back to the starting position. Taking Ryosuke's hand he waited for Yuuta to caught them off.

"In a ten count. Mizusawa, hit the floor at 11 and both strike final pose at 12, alright? Ready? 1...2...3.." At one Mizusawa spun into Ryosuke, spinning twice on his toes before pressing his back to the taller teen. Flowing into the next movement he raised his leg to wrap backwards around Ryosuke's waist and extended his arms. The gentle touch to his thigh made him freeze and his concentration to waver as they went into the pirouette. A second later both boys came crashing down at the failed turn.

"What happened?" Kashiwagi asked kindly. "It looked so pretty until you got to the turn."

"It's my fault," Mizusawa smiled. "I tensed and didn't turn with him."

"Mizusawa, Kashiwagi," Shoko summoned over with her eyes. Both men looked at each other before walking over to the intimidating girl's coach. She pulled them at the door, closing it so nobody could listen in. The girls began whispering amongst themselves while the boys merely stared in confusion.

"Mizusawa, is that situation uncomfortable for you," Shoko asked, trying to sound understanding.

"Ah, because you like boys, right?"

The senior blushed, rather choosing not to answer. "Maa ne, Mizusawa-kun, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. When I played soccer I knew at least two guys on the team that were the same way, they even dated at one point. It had been a big deal at the time but they always put that aside."

"If you are uncomfortable with Tsukimori touching you somewhat intimately please make it known. I have had one similar situation with a couple of girls on my team. One was like you and attracted to the same sex and the others were very cautious about letting her touch them."

"Oh, it's nothing like that. I just messed up. I'm fine with Ryosuke touching me, really. And any other teammate for that matter, they're my friends and I trust them," he smiled, hoping his half-lie sounded convincing.

She nodded. "If at anytime you feel uncomfortable…"

"I will speak with you. Thank you for your care," he bowed. "Please excuse me."

"Such a caring teacher you have."

Mizusawa's head shot up, surprised to see his elder sister coming up the stairs to the gym. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Shogo wanted to see your gymnastics and as kaa-san told me to pick you up today, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. Sugamiya Shogo this is my little brother, Mizusawa Taku. Taku this is Sugamiya Shogo, a pediatrics major."

Mizusawa blinked at the tall brunette with light hazel eyes that smiled kindly. The man bowed to him politely and Mizusawa returned the bow.

"May Shogo and I watch practice?" his sister asked politely.

"Both teams are training for Nationals so as long as you are not a disturbance I have no problem," Shoko nodded. The five people entered the gym, Shogo-san immediately drawing awed looks from the girls.

"He's so handsome," they whispered to each other. "I wonder who he is."

"Ladies, back to practice," Shoko ordered.

"If you'll excuse me, nee-san. Sugamiya-san," Mizusawa bowed politely. After he had run back Miyumi decided it was time to poke at her friend.

"So..? First opinion?"

"He's very cute and very polite. When did he come out?"

"Last year. It came as a bit of shock but our parents have conceded to finding him a nice boyfriend, which is why I suggested you. I know you just recently got out of a relationship but…"

"It's fine. Your brother doesn't seem like the type to cheat on someone, besides I think I am done with older men. It will be nice to date someone younger," he smiled politely. Looking to the team of gymnasts he mentally awed at how talented and flexible Mizusawa is. All of them were quite talented except for a few who seemed to be somewhat messy in their movements, he assumed they were beginners. "They allow thugs on the team?"

"I'm not sure. Tak never really talks to much about his teammates, but I do know he just recently got over his crush on Kiyama. I think he's the messy black haired one right there, with the slightly bruised face."

"Kiyama, make sure you arms are stiff when you press down into the mat, so you can grip it better," Mizusawa called. "Captain, can you show him?" The soft looking black haired boy, raised his arm in the air before jumping backwards into an elegant back hand spring.

"Guess that answers that question," Miyumi chuckled.

"His type are…rough boys."

"I think it was just a crush. I don't really think Taku is into Yankees."

Shogo nodded in agreement. A short hour later Taku called to them to wait one moment while he changed. They waited outside the club room, waiting for the third year to reemerge. Ten minutes later he did emerge, talking happily to the boy he had referred to as 'captain'. Shogo stiffened as he stared at the boy dressed in school gakuran. He had a thing for gakuran, he wouldn't deny that. It was similar to how straight men like school girl uniforms, but it had been a long time since he ever dated an authentic school student.

"I'll see you tomorrow, captain," he waved. "Shall we go, nee-san?"

Agreeing to this meeting was most definitely a great idea.

-o-o-o-

"And what position do you play?" Mizusawa-san continued to question his son's potential suitor.

"I most commonly play short stop, though I have also played centerfield and first base. I switch hit."

"A switch hitter, very good quality to have in baseball. Your position in the line-up?"

"3rd. Our right fielder is out power hitter and he bats fourth,"

Mizusawa-san nodded in approval. "Baseball is a very respectable sport. A man's sport. Now, something extremely important I need to speak with you about. Taku is still a young boy and his attractions may very well change with time. I don't want you to pressure him into anything he's not ready for."

"O-Otou-san!" Taku blushed, wanting nothing more than to hide his face in a pillow.

"With all due respect sir, it's quite unlikely that if he is not currently attracted to women he ever will be. I have been openly homosexual since I was 15 and I'm currently 22. However, to answer your question, I do not believe in physical relationships without a deep foundation of trust and I would never force Taku-kun into something he wasn't ready for."

Accepting this answer, Mizusawa-san looked to his wife. "We give you our approval to date our son."

Taku sighed wishing he had a say in this. Shogo-san was very kind and seemingly perfect, but he didn't want perfection. Truthfully he kind of wanted Ryosuke even if he knew that would never happen.

-o-o-o-

"Is this alright with you," Shogo asked, walking next to the Senior High Student. "I can walk you home after practice as well."

"A-Ah, arigatou, Shogo-san," Mizusawa bowed, not having the heart to turn the man down.

"You're the first younger boy I have dated, I look forward to spoiling you."

"EH? DATING?" an all to familiar voice yelled before an arm was wrapped tightly around Mizusawa's neck and he saw red.

"Ohayou, Wataru-kun," he smiled.

"You and him are dating? You found you someone? Nippori. Ryosuke, isn't that great news for Mizusawa?"

Nippori gave his best attempt at a smile. He was comfortable with Mizusawa as he was one of his friends, but the same sex thing slightly bothered him. Ryosuke merely scoffed.

"Anou..Shogo-san these are my friends, Wataru, Ryosuke, and Nippori. Minna, this is my….boyfriend, Sugamiya Shogo," he smiled, realizing he didn't like the word boyfriend associated with this person. Tsukimori Ryosuke as Mizusawa Taku's boyfriend. THAT sounded right, at least in his own head. The thought that he liked this thought made his face turn red.

Wataru noticing this poked the boy teasingly. "Well good for you, Mizusawa, you deserve someone to take care of you. Don't take to long to get to practice playing tonsil hockey," he laughed, pulling his two closest friends away from the 'lovebirds'.

"I apologize for Wataru, he likes to play fun."

"Taku-kun, it may be out of place for me to say this so early in our new found relationship, but I do not think Yankees are suitable friends."

"What?"

"I had a close friend that got wrapped up in that kind of activity and soon he was no longer the person I knew. I would hate to see that happen to such a nice boy like you."

"They aren't like that. True there have been some scary situations but Wataru, Nippori, Kiyama….Ryosuke..they aren't like that at all. Their appearance may say they are Yankees but they aren't thugs. They don't fights needlessly or hurt people. Wataru is the nicest person I know and has been there for all of us when we need him."

"Regardless…."

"Please, Shogo-san, do not insult my friends. Afternoon practice starts at 3, if you wish to observe feel free to but please do so quietly and please do not insult my team mates."

"Uh Taku-kun," he called to the boy walking into the school without parting words. "I didn't mean offense," he muttered.

-o-o-o-

When afternoon practice rolled around Mizusawa was hoping his 'boyfriend' would not show up. He was rather disappointed when the college student walked in giving him a small smile. Muttering to his friends to ignore the presence they looked back at Yuuta's planning board.

"This reload technique is going to be a lot of complicated tumbling. We'll have a basic formation, Ryosuke here in the upper left corner. A line formation here in the bottom left corner. I will tumble across to the top right corner and Kiyama and Wataru will follow me in unison. This will be where the first overlay technique comes in. Ryosuke, you will take off into a round off back hand spring, do a half rotation and somersault out, land on your feet and front flip forward into a forward tuck, can you do that?"

"You make it sound hard, captain. It's a lot of easy techs in quick succession right?"

"Right. This is the hard part. Mizusawa take off at the same time as Ryosuke, round off back hand spring into a back flip. You're back flip will go over Ryosuke's somersault. Land on your knees and watch Hino's movements. Hino, you'll go as soon as Mizusawa passes over Ryosuke. Again round off back hand spring. Do the triple back and do a back flip with two full rotations, at this point Kiyama and Wataru will catch you swinging you around twice before releasing you into the air. There's a second tumbling pass after the release but we'll cover that after this first part."

"Yosh! We're not wimps so lets get out there and do this," Wataru cheered.

Shogo winced as he watched them practice. He had never really knew how hard it was to do rhythmic gymnastics. A sinking feeling settle in his gut as he realized the bruises the boys sported might not have been from fighting but from tedious work-outs. Perhaps he had misjudged them as Yankees when they really weren't. He had known many boys in Senior High that use to dress similar just to prove they were different and they weren't Yankees. Sighing he decided it was best just to watch his new consort work out. Unfortunately, this presented another train of thoughts. A train involving how amazing flexible the boy was. Baseball had to be flexible to an extent but not that flexible. An uke that could spread his legs that far into a full splits…

Inwardly he had to slap himself. Those were inappropriate thoughts towards the boy. On the flipside Shogo is a man and it's perfectly natural to find flexibility that wonderful.

"Shall I have the janitors bring a mop," the boy known as Kiyama asked. Apparently he was taking a break to rest his wrist.

"Excuse me?"

"You're drooling and staring at Mizusawa like a horny dog."

"Well I am a man, and straight men stare at women a similar way.."

"Don't stare at him that way."

"You seem protective of him, yet you turned him down," Shogo stated, looking at the boy.

"I turned him down because I had feelings for another and didn't view Mizusawa in that light. He's not an object for sex. He deserves a good healthy relationship."

"I'm not using him for sex, but I won't deny that I find him sexually attractive. I won't push the subject on him though, I'll wait till he is ready."

"Good," Kiyama nodded. "Because if you hurt him be assured I don't play nice and Wataru over there…" he nodded to his red-head friend. "He'll tear you to pieces."

"Kiyama-sempai," Tsuchiya yelled running over to his friend. "Would you like me to re-wrap your wrist?"

"Sure, thanks Satoshi."

Shogo pressed himself against the wall, a cold shiver of fear running up his spine. He was wrong. They were Yankees. Violent and terrifying. He made a mental note to get Mizusawa away from them as quickly as possible lest he get involved in a deadly situation.

-chapter 2 owari-


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Yankees?" Shogo's best friend, Nozoki, blinked.

"This new boy I started dating seems to hang out with yankees, at least four of them."

Nozoki winced, blowing out a breath. "Do you have to remind me? I mean you know I'm cool with that but still…"

"Nozoki, I didn't say anything about that frivolous Tsunomi you dated. Besides, not the point, yankees…"

"Well I mean they usually stick in tight groups with one person as the head that they all kind of listen to. They tend to smoke or drink. Wear their pants low, dye their hair, basically all the things of a rebellious youth. Hardcore yankees tend to fight as a show of macho-ness," he answered, pulling on his jersey.

"One of them threatened me, they'd rip me to pieces if I hurt Taku-kun."

"You hurt someone?" Nozoki laughed. "That's hilarious."

"Shut up. Look I was innocently checking him out and one of them threatened me, for no damn apparent reason."

"Maybe he's like an 'otouto' or something. He's got their protection without being an actual yankee himself, you know?"

"I don't know but it bothers me."

"Why not just ask him yourself?"

"Yeah, I think I might. I'm picking him up after practice."

"Which we are now late to thanks to you. Buchou is going to have our ass, so lets go."

-o-o-o-

Shogo smiled as he saw his boyfriend emerge from the gymnastics club room chatting light heartedly to his friends. He grimaced slightly in annoyance at the familiarity the light haired yankee showed. The boy had an arm thrown around Mizusawa's shoulders in a sluggish manner, his other arm thrown around another boy-Hino, if he remembered the name correctly. No. It wasn't the familiar aura, many boys treat their friends in this carefree manner. It was the light flushing of Mizusawa's cheeks, the wider smile, and the slight biting of his lip. Mizusawa had a crush on this boy, it was as clear as the sun.

"Taku!" he called over, catching the boy's attention. He inwardly curse when Mizusawa didn't push away from the other boy. "I came to pick you up for dinner," he told the other kindly.

"Dinner? Oh, I forgot. We have dinner as a team at Wataru's on Wednesdays and then go to Satoshi's bathhouse on Fridays."

Meetings? Yakuza planning?

"It's for team strategizing, we all seem to think better in the tub," he joked.

Strategizing? Sound devious. Who to rob next? Fights?

"Hey, don't turn down a date," the red-head-Wataru, he would remember this-called pushing the boy towards him. "I'll have kaa-san bake you a bowl of omelet rice and take it to you later."

Omelet Rice? Was this a secret code? Maybe code for a lead pipe?

Mizusawa nodded, before stepping away from his friends and waving bye to them. "Shall we go, Shogo-san?"

"Ah," he nodded, leading the teen away with a gentle arm around his waist.

-o-o-o-

"So how well do you know these friends of yours?" Shogo asked over their simple dinner of ramen.

"We're close, all of us, we never leave each other behind. Wataru was really the one that brought us all together, he's kind of like our son. A very loud, quick to angry sun," Mizusawa laughed affectionately.

"Do they smoke? Your friends?"

"They used to, but they quit when they joined the team. The nicotine was really bad for them and they were having a hard time breathing correctly."

"I see and have they been in any fights…?"

Mizusawa looked up, a look of clear offense on his face. "Does that matter?"

"I just want to make sure they are good people. Your sister told me of your crush on Kiyama-kun, is that his name?"

"It was a crush, nothing more, alright?"

Shogo looked down at his ramen, scooping some up before posing his next question. "You have a crush on that light haired yankee do you not?" Mizusawa's chopsticks fell into his bowl and he averted his eyes. "Guess that's a clear answer."

"He's not gay, so it doesn't matter either way. I'm also not a cheater. I'm currently dating you so those feelings are non-existent."

"They're not non-existent, so do not think me rude if I request that you have no relationship with him outside of your gymnastics."

"He's my friend. We don't turn our backs on our friends."

"He's your crush, which puts a step in our relationship. I realize this is your first relationship with another male, but please respect me by adhering to this. I would hate to be cheated on again."

Picking up his chopsticks, Mizusawa nodded. "I-I guess I can….consent to that.."

Taking the smaller hand into his own, Shogo smiled at his boyfriend. "Thank you, Taku."

-o-o-o-

Mizusawa sighed in dejection as he walked to the gym. He couldn't believe he had consented to that just because he felt guilty. Well at least the night was still young and he could get in some alone time practice to sort out his thoughts.

Upon entering the gym his face immediately fell at the person within. At least this time Ryousuke wasn't here alone, Kiyama joined him this time.

"Wh-what are you two doing here?"

"Oh, Mizusawa," Kiyama mocked saluted. "Ryosuke is helping me with the tumbling since he's pretty much the strongest tumbler we have."

"You mean for the first tumbling pass? It's a running start into a round off back hand spring, back tuck, right?" Mizusawa smiled.

"Double back into a back tuck," Ryosuke corrected. "His flopping on the back tuck, I don't think he's getting enough speed on the take off."

"Why don't you two demonstrate the pass for me, so I get a better idea," Kiyama suggested, stepping off the mat.

"I'll be Wataru you be Kiyama, cool?"

"That's fine," Mizusawa agreed, taking a starting point next to Ryosuke on the mat. "Ready?" With a nod from Ryousuke they sprinted across the mat before diving simultaneously into a round off. Kiyama watched in amazement as the two pulled the move off as if practiced since childhood. Their feet hit the mat with a loud thud, their arms straight in the air in a finishing pose.

Kiyama applauded them, amazed by how in synch they were. "Now if only I can pull it off that perfectly with Wataru. I'll be right back, alright? I need to fill my water bottle and wash my face."

With Kiyama gone Mizusawa suddenly felt like he was already betraying Shogo's trust. "We should keep practicing."

"Naw, it's cool, I want to take a break. We've been at this for the past two hours."

"Then I'll keep practicing."

"Hey, you didn't stretch so why not do that while Kiyama is gone? Get all loosened up, we'll be here a while and Wataru said he'd come by later. Hanging out for a bit won't kill you."

"I can't. I have to practice…"

"Have to..? Why do you have to?"

"Because Shogo-san said I'm not allowed to hang out with you anymore outside of practice, that's why. He said he's…" Mizusawa stopped mid-sentence, and looked at the mat. "He thinks you are a bad person even if I told him different like a dozen times."

"Fuck him. I was here before him. We're your friends and you know us better than that prick. You've been dating that guy for a week, he doesn't own you. Come over here and I'll help you stretch," Ryosuke glared. More at the thought of that guy trying to own Mizusawa, than at Mizusawa himself.

Mizusawa nodded, coming over to his friend and beginning his stretches. When he needed help Ryosuke pushed down on his back for him or helped him stretch his hamstrings. "Anou…Ryosuke, do you mind helping me?"

"Hm? I was.."

"Uh no, just stand in front of me. I usually use a wall to work-out my flexibility but a person is better so I my leg is angled."

"What kind of stretch..?"

Mizusawa smiled coyly at the other before lifting his left leg onto Ryosuke's shoulder and leaning forward. "Damn," Ryosuke heard himself whisper. "That's flexible."

"Hino can do it to, so can Yuuta. Kaneko is the only one that can't from the original start of the RG club." Leaning back he stretched his arms backwards keeping his leg propped on Ryosuke's shoulder. Ryosuke gulped as his eyes traveled the long ligament. Immediately he slapped himself and reminded himself this was a guy he was checking out, a damn flexible guy. More flexible than any girl he had ever dated. When Mizusawa leaned in again he felt his mind and sensibility fly out the window and kissed the boy as if he was a girl attempting to seduce him. Mizusawa's eyes widened in shock, the surprise of the kiss knocking him off balance; his leg falling to the floor and body going limp against Ryosuke's. Ryosuke didn't stop though, he pressed harder, wrapping an arm around Mizusawa's waist to support him. With no prompting Mizusawa began kissing back, his arms wrapping around Ryosuke's neck.

"I leave you two alone for five minutes and you make-out?" Kiyama called, nonchalantly walking pass them.

"Ki-Kiyama," Mizusawa blushed. "This isn't what it looks like."

"I was helping him stretch and he fell."

"Helping him stretch his tongue…?" Kiyama asked with an raised eyebrow. Ryosuke stomped over to the other yankee, glaring a promise of death.

"I told you, I'm not gay. Guys aren't my thing."

"Guys may not be your thing but apparently Mizusawa is. Also, you can like a guy and not be gay, Ryosuke."

"Ch' liking a guy makes you gay."

With a shrug, Kiyama stepped onto the mat. "Whatever you want to think. I've dated two boys, does that make me gay?"

Ryosuke's eyes widened in disbelief. "TWO? But you likes girls…I know for a fact you like girls."

"Exactly. Just because I was attracted to two men doesn't make me gay. Besides, I kind of like dating boys better, but I won't give you reasons on why. I'll tell you right now, sex is only 25 percent of the reason I like dating boys."

"Who are these guys you dated?"

"None of your business. Now we are here to practice not talk about relationships. Let me ask this last thing, how does it feel when you kiss Mizusawa? Ask yourself that."

Mizusawa blushed upon realizing they had semi forgot his presence. Giving an uncomfortable cough he walked up to Kiyama, giving him a step by step how to do his tumbling pass.

-o-

That question stayed on his mind all night. Staring up at his ceiling, Ryosuke touched his lips. What did it feel like to kiss Mizusawa? Soft. Wet. Strong. Forceful. Responsive. Rolling over he pulled out his cellphone looking at the list of his current seven girlfriends. Nozaki Kisa was at the top of the list so he sent her a text message to come on over, his parents weren't home anyways and his brother wouldn't be home till late tomorrow if he was lucky. One thing about Kisa he could say was a sure thing was that she was a bit of a slut. He ordered her over and she'd be there in a short skirt with no underwear, out of all the girls he was dating she was probably the only one cheating as much as he did.

The door bell rang and he hopped up, going to answer it. He opened the door and sure enough she was wearing a camisole with no bra and a short skirt with no underwear. "I'm so glad you called Ryosuke," she whispered batting her eyelashes. She closed her eyes standing still waiting for him to kiss her. He took the invitation and leaned in and kissed her, she pressed to him softly, but hardly responding. Sighing he pulled away.

"Kisa, you're a slut, we're over," with that he shut the door in the girls face. As he shuffled back to his bedroom he faintly wondered if all the girls he had kissed did the same thing. Merely stood there accepting and barely participating? Mizusawa was nothing like that. He kissed back. He was actually fierce. He actually battled his tongue back and tried to take control. Ryosuke had no urge to kiss any other guy but the thought of kissing Mizusawa didn't seem to bother him to greatly.

-o-o-o-

Mizusawa blinked in disbelief. "Did you just…?"

"On a trial thing. I've never dated a guy so it'd be more like hanging-out. Yeah, think of that way, it's not a date. I'm not gay, kay? It's just hanging out as two friends, two guy friends."

"We-Well, I am dating Shogo-san and…"

"Really? I mean for real, Mizusawa. The man is a wimp. He almost shit his pants when Kiyama warned him not to hurt. Besides he's probably not even clever enough to catch on if we went on a da…hang out. Besides it'd be at my house. Not only that you and I both know you seem more attracted to the dangerous type, or at least seem to be."

"An-Anou…I can't, Ryosuke. I mean, I like you..like that as more than a friend and this might get my hopes up and…"

"Look I'm cooperating aren't I? You'd be crazy to pass this up if you like me that way. This might prove that we have nothing in common or something. Maybe I'll come to my senses and realize its just a weird phase."

"Ryousuke, it's NOT a phase to me. It's my life. This is who I am, and I don't want to be hurt. I'm sorry, but I have to decline."

-o-o-o-

"You really are ignorant, aren't you?" Kiyama sighed, almost smacking his friend across the head. "He's not a girl."

"I kind of noticed that, I didn't treat him like a girl. I told him it would be more like hanging out than a date."

"Which is fine. I'm talking about the statement 'realize its just a weird phase'. Do you know how insulting that probably was to him? It's not a phase for him. It's not a passing glance or just something he decided on one morning. It's who he is and you basically belittled that. If you try again I suggest you think before you speak."

"Then how did you ask out whoever you dated or dating or whatever."

"I'm dating Satoshi, so not much prompting was needed. I asked him if he wanted to go out with me and he instantly replied yes in that cute little way of his."

"Cute little…seriously, Kiyama?"

The black haired 'killer' nodded in the affirmative. "Is it that odd?"

"Who did you date before him?"

"No one's concern but mine. The issues here is you, Ryosuke, so why don't you focus on yourself and Mizusawa for the time being."

-o-o-o-

Yuuta clapped his hands to a rhythm, they had yet to chose a new piece of music, but a standard beat could work for now. "Mizusawa and Ryosuke, take off when Wataru and Kiyama go into the back tuck. Ryosuke, you'll have the view so watch Mizusawa carefully so there are no injuries. Hino, go at the overlay. For now Wataru and Kiyama just catch him, we want to make sure you can before we try the actual tech."

At Yuuta's count off Wataru and Kiyama took off into their tumbling pass landing it with an approving nod from their own coach and Shoko-sensei. Kiyama anticipated what happened next before it even happened. Mizusawa and Ryosuke were completely out of synch so it wasn't a surprise when they bumped right into each other. "Taku!" Shogo yelled, running over to his boyfriend, earning a yell from Yuuta about street shoes on his mat. Tossing the items off he ran to make sure the boy was okay. "You're bleeding," he fretted, seeing Mizusawa's busted lip.

"It happens," he shrugged with a laugh.

"Mizusawa. Tsukimori. Whatever your issue is, fix it. I'm not taking you to the emergency room when you kill each other attempting skills haphazardly. Sugamiya-san, I respect request that you stay off those mats as you are not a team member."

"Ganbatte, Ryosuke-kun. Mizusawa-kun," Mari-chan cheered on her classmates.

Shogo looked like he was about to argue but backed off. "Ryosuke, what were you doing? You were supposed to go at the same time as Mizusawa," Yuuta called.

"I thought I did, obviously not," he grimaced, ignoring his new bruise starting to form.

"Daijoubu, Ryosuke. I've had worse beatings," Mizusawa smiled. "We'll just try again."

"Worse beatings?" Shogo called out loud unintentionally. Mizusawa waved for everyone to ignore him.

"We'll try again if that's alright with you captain."

Yuuta gave his consent. "I'll count you off. Kiyama. Wataru. Just do a standing back tuck to give them a start off point. Ready?"

Mizusawa looked over at Ryosuke giving a nod. They took off at the same time, this time with Ryosuke successfully somersaulting under a full back flip from Mizusawa, both landing in their respective positions. Mizusawa watched as Hino tumbled over him in rapid spins, Kiyama and Wataru reaching up and catching the small second year securely in their arms.

Yuuta clapped with a smile. "This may work. Go ahead and let's take a five minute break."

-o-

"Let me try this again," Ryosuke started casually, making the boy washing his face jump.

"Don't sneak up on people with their faces in the water faucet."

Ryosuke hid his laugh behind his hand. "I didn't mean to make you jump."

Mizusawa gave a smile as to say 'that's okay' before leaning down to finish washing his face. Once down he grabbed the towel, drying himself. "Now, try what again."

"I'm sorry that I belittled you the other day. I didn't mean to say that you being homosexual is just a phase. I know it's who you are whether than just a thought. So, I'd like to make it up to you with a dinner, at my house. Though when I mean dinner it will probably be left-over omelet rice for Natsuko-san and instant ramen."

With a large grin, Mizusawa fervently nodded his head. "Sure, sounds fun."

"If I had a cookie I think I would give it to you," Kiyama commented off-handedly, turning on the faucet to wash up.

"WHY do you keep randomly showing up?"

"It's not random, Ryosuke. I just happen to be by when things happen It's not my problem that you forget we are at practice and that anyone could have walked to the faucets. Including Mizusawa's boyfriend."

"OH! I forgot about Shogo-san! Maybe I shouldn't…"

"You already said yes. Sugayama or whatever can go suck a…"

"Ryosuke!" Mizusawa blushed. "Th-That's inappropriate."

"I was going to say rock."

"You were not," Kiyama and Mizusawa dead-panned in unison.

Ryosuke looked at them before laughing loudly, holding his stomach. "You're right, I wasn't. Let's get back to practice before captain comes looking for us."

-chapter 3 owari-


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Tadaima," Ryosuke called, entering his home and sliding off his shoes. Mizusawa followed him, sliding off his own in the entrance way.

"Okaeri, Ryo-chan," a light haired woman greeted, her hair thrown up messily. Her make-up ruined and smudge.

"Eh? What are you doing home, kaa-chan?"

"Got home a few hours ago. Have another shift in an hour, so I was taking a nap as you can see. By the way have you seen that brother of yours?"

"Not since yesterday, he said he'd be back late," Ryosuke answered, signaling for Mizusawa to follow him into the home. Pulling the boy forward Ryosuke introduced him. "This is Mizusawa Taku."

"Mizusawa this is my kaa-chan, Tsukimori Ashira."

"Yoroshiku, Tsukimori-san."

"Call me Ashira-chan, I don't mind," she waved.

"Ashira-san then."

"Close enough," she smiled, taking a long drag from a menthol cigarette that had previously been sitting on a ashtray. "You want one, baby?"

"I quit smoking, remember?"

"Oh, that's right. Have you talked to Mida-kun lately?"

"Not for a month since he last came by to pay you."

"Saa….well, don't let me interrupt you boys. Go have fun, hang-out, whatever, I'll be out of your hair in about an hour," she waved off. Ryosuke smiled to his mother before motioning with his head for Mizusawa to follow him.

"It's rather late, what does Ashira-san do that she needs to leave this late?"

Sliding his bedroom door open he let Mizusawa step in first. Mizusawa was surprised to see the room actually well kept. The bed fully made, a shelf of books, DVDs, and videogames being practically the only furniture in the room save for the TV and it's stand. "She's an escort."

"An escort? Like a host?"

"Try between host and prostitute. If a customer if willing to pay the right price she'll have sex with them."

"O-Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's good money, and kaa-chan has done everything she can to support me and my aniki. Our dad isn't exactly in the picture. He date my mom for two years and that's when she got pregnant with aniki. He was born and Mida left. When aniki was about three he came back and they got together again and kaa-chan got pregnant with me, he left before I was even born. He pays child support for us but he gets to stop soon because I'm 18, he has to pay till I'm 20."

"So, you don't really know your father."

"I kind of know him, I didn't meet him till I was five," Ryosuke answered, collapsing onto his bed. "And I've had contact with him when he brings the checks by every month but beyond that I don't really know the man. Now I guess you get why I started down the road I did. Kaa-chan needed a smoking buddy, so I took it up when I was 16. Aniki started when he was 14."

"Then you met Wataru?"

"Yep. Natsuko-san has helped us a lot. She never minded me going over when kaa-chan would have one of her episodes. She's not a habitual drug user, but sometimes clients force drugs on her and if she wants to get paid she does it. She tends to get angry when she's high. When that happened I would wait it out at Wataru's."

"You've had a hard life, Ryosuke," Mizusawa commented, kneeling on the floor next to the bed.

"It's not to bad, actually. Being an escort isn't the only job kaa-chan has. She's also a waitress at an early morning diner and a security at a clinic. She does what it takes to support us."

"And your brother?"

Ryosuke shrugged. "He has a job, but more than half the time we have no idea where he is at. Could be with some girl, could be working. We just let him do his own thing. Now you know my life, so what about you? You said you tried dating girls before right?"

"Hai, since I was about 13."

"You mean you've been that way since that young?"

"I didn't realize what it was at first. I just thought I hadn't met the right girl. I was waiting for the right girl that would give me those butterflies in my stomach. The first girl I dated was Kotomigi Shuromi. She was in my class and she was always watching me. She was really pretty, had this long black hair that she use to put up in crazy styles to gain attention. All the boys wanted her so when she confessed to me I just automatically said yes. She was my first kiss, but when she kissed me I felt absolutely nothing, not a thing. I couldn't apologize to her enough. She was really understanding too. She said she was attracted to me but there was really not romantic connection and we could be friends. We were close friends until she moved in our third year of middle school, her family decided to move to Italy."

"You still talk to her?"

"Every now and then, through email. We're not as close as we use to be but we are still friends."

"How about after that? You date anymore girls in Junior High?"

"One that Shuromi hooked me up with. I don't remember her surname but I believe her first name was Hikari. She was from a different middle school than us and had transferred into our school at the beginning of third year right before Shuromi left. That relationship lasted even less time than with Shuromi, I still felt nothing what so ever, but I still didn't think anything about it. I got to Senior High and you know how first year of Senior High is."

"Oh yeah, all the blossoming bosoms of the girls. Long legs, short skirts…hormones…"

"That's exactly how all the guys around me were. They got jealous of me because I made friends with girls really quickly and they were usually the girls they had crushes on. A bit of serendipity, as they called it, had me dating the most popular girl at the school, Umemori Ritsuko."

"I thought you went to Karasumori all three years."

"Ah, I actually transferred at the end of first year. You see, Ritsuko, she was really nice to me. She kind of spoiled me more than I spoiled her and all the guys were jealous. The few guy friends I had were urging me on to have sex with her-I guess most of them had had sex previously. But the thing is, I liked Ritsuko-chan, as a friend. I was starting to think something was wrong with me because all these girls I was friends with, I never found one of them attractive. They were my friends. Though guys kept telling me you can find your friends attractive I didn't find any of them attractive. I didn't stare at their chests like other guys did. I didn't drop my pencil to try to look up their skirts."

Ryosuke chuckled here. "Hehe, first year pencil drop. Good times."

Ignoring the remark Mizusawa continued on. "I thought I might feel different if I DID do it with Ritsuko-chan and we talked about it before hand. About sex I mean. She went on birth control and we planned everything out…."

"Woah. Woah. Woah. Wait! You actually had SEX with a girl and still prefer guys? Damn."

"Ryosuke, do you want to hear or not?"

"Please continue," Ryosuke waved, now staring intently at the other.

"So we waited till her parents and brother would be gone. She had a twin brother that went to a private boys boarding school and they were on their break when this happened. So we waited till they were all gone and set out to do it. It started simple enough, kissing and making-out, but I felt nothing stirring inside me. It didn't feel any different. She undressed, her shirt first and I just stared. I didn't know what to think. I was just staring.."

"Not even a bit aroused?"

Mizusawa shook his head in the negative. "Not a thing. She even let me touch them and I did. It felt weird to hold a breast, but she moaned like it felt good. I was so confused because well I didn't feel even a bit turned on. She took more initiative than me and pulled off my shirt and pressed her chest to mine. I immediately pushed it back, I didn't like the way it felt and she gave me this seductive smirk like I was playing with her. When she pulled off her skirt is when I freaked out. I told her I couldn't do it and just left. When I saw that part of her I felt an almost sick turning in my stomach, it grossed me out, thought I didn't realize that's what I was feeling at the time. The next day she apologized to me saying that maybe we were moving to fast but I was free to tell all my guy friends we did it. We still dated for sometime and I met her brother and his girlfriend. We were on kind of a group date thing. The girls said they were going to go buy some wine, we were only 15 but her brother's girlfriend had an older cousin willing to buy it for us. We were left alone and he was really nice to me, he laughed about mine and Ritsuko's failed attempt at sex."

"Don't you remember HIS name?"

"Ah. It was Hiroki. He had laughed and made a joke about maybe finding him more attractive than his sister. When I looked at him I realized that I DID find him more attractive than Ritsuko-chan. That's when it happened. He pushed me down to the floor and started kissing me, but I didn't push him back, I kissed back. It felt wonderful. His hard body pressing against mine, his tongue in my mouth, his hands on me. It was the first time I ever felt on fire and my body was reacting to it."

"Did you have sex with him?"

Again a head shake in the negative. "W-we got close to it. He took full control, rubbing against me, undressing me, sucking at my neck and body. I wasn't stopping him though, I was spurring him on. It felt too good and I didn't want him to stop. The girls came back and I freaked out before they did. I ran from the house and I just locked myself in my room crying for days. I thought something was wrong with me. I never felt something like that with a girl but with Hiroki it was indescribable. Ritsuko wasn't mad at all. She smiled and said 'You're gay, that's okay. It's really clear now.' I was so upset. I told her over and over again that I'm not that way. I'm not. I tried even harder to be with a girl. I tried even harder to copulate with Ritsuko-chan, but it didn't…I just broke down finally and she let me. It made sense to me now why I never liked girls the way other boys did. I still wanted to deny it but she wouldn't let me. We still dated to help me keep up appearances but then I slipped up. There was this boy in class 1-D that was really cute, attractive and I stared at him a lot. I was caught checking him out by one of my 'friends' and they out right called me a faggot in the middle of the cafeteria. After that, despite Ritsuko-chan protecting me, I was harassed endlessly. Boys would corner me in the bathroom against the wall and ask me if I wanted to suck them off or if they could…" he gulped uncomfortably. "….fuck me from behind. A group of boys even cornered me and asked if I wanted a gangbang style fuck."

"Those assholes," Ryosuke glared. "I bet a few of them were queer to and was harassing you to hide it. They had no right to do that to you."

"The principal wouldn't tell my parents the situation to protect my privacy he just suggested that I might be more suited to Karasumori Senior High. They asked why I would want to transfer when there was barely two months left of school, but I told them it was for the best. I moved to Karasumori and swore that I wouldn't let anyone find out that I'm…homosexual. That I like boys instead of girls. When I happened upon Kiyama at the end of second year I was instantly attracted to him and just used that as fuel not to let anyone find out."

"What happened to Ritsuko-chan?"

"We're still friends today," Mizusawa smiled. "We hang out every now and then. I can introduce her to you some time if you want."

"Heh, that'd be cool."

"Don't hit on her though. She's one of my closest friends."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Ryosuke conceded. "Okay then. We've gone over our pathetic life stories, maybe it's time to have a beer or some sake?"

"Or we could watch a rhythmic gymnastics DVD I brought with me," Mizusawa suggested, pulling said DVD from his bag.

"That works too," Ryosuke smiled, taking the DVD from Mizusawa and going to put it into his DVD player. Mizusawa watched the boy with a small smile, blushing a moment later when he saw what kind of DVD had been in there. "No need to blush, it's just porn. I forgot this was in here," he told the other, flipping the DVD upside and placing it on top of the DVD player. Pulling out the rhythmic gymnastics DVD he placed it in the player and turned the TV on. Sliding back to sit by Mizusawa he grabbed the remote hitting the play button.

"Ryo-chan, I'm going to work.." Ashira informed her son, opening his bedroom door. "What are you watching?"

"It's a rhythmic gymnastics DVD, Ashira-san."

"Rhythmic gymnastics? I didn't know you were interested in that Ryo-chan."

"I'm in the club at school, I told you once, remember, kaa-chan?"

"Not at all. Are you sure I wasn't asleep? Drunk? Hung-over?"

"Maybe," Ryosuke chuckled. Ashira turned her attention to the TV.

"You can do that, Ryo-chan? You can fly?"

"Yeah."

"I would like to see that. Tell me the next time you perform and I'll come watch, alright?" she smiled fondly, kissing her son on the top of his head.

"Oi, kaa-chan, not cool," he waved off, playfully swatting her away. The woman left with a small smile, closing the door back. Ryosuke sighed. "Still treats me like a kid."

"You'll always be her little boy, Ryo-chan," Mizusawa teased.

"Oi," Ryosuke yelled, pushing the other boy. Mizusawa pushed back, laughing but trying not to laugh to hard. They continued this playful pushing game until Ryosuke got fed up and pulled the other boy into a quick kiss. "I win."

"Ry-Ryosuke…"

The light haired boy smirked before turning his eyes back to the TV. Casually he put his arm behind Mizusawa, with the excuse he was resting it on the boy. Mizusawa smiled, scooting closer to his date. "You're warm," he whispered.

Ryosuke looked down at the smaller boy, scoffing before actually putting his arm on Mizusawa's shoulders. "Whatever."

-o-o-o-

"And…?" Kiyama pressed.

"I'd go on a second date with him. It was actually really nice. He didn't whine for attention like most girls did and he didn't demand I hold his hand or anything. It was just like hanging out, except we kissed once and we just kind of sat together watching DVDs."

"No making-out?"

"No making-out. No nothing."

"Then ask him out on a second date, but you might want to get rid of the road block known as Sugamiya. He does want Mizusawa to stay away from us."

"He can go fuck himself. He's not Mizusawa's type anyways," Ryosuke sneered as they made their way to the gym.

"Ryo-chan! Ryo-chan!"

"Eh?" Ryosuke called, turning in surprise to see his mother in her diner uniform. "Kaa-chan, what are you doing here? You're actually awake and sober?"

"I was talking to the boss and her son is actually a rhythmic gymnast too and she gave me permission to come watch you practice. Her son goes to Washizu Academy I believe she said, his name is Tsurumi."

"Tsurumi? EH? That guy?"

"Oh, you know him?"

"Yeah, he's one of Yuuta's old friends from middle school and he makes a habit of making our lives hell."

"I'm sure you return the favor," she smiled. "Don't let me keep you. You can just lead the way to the gym," she smiled hooking her arm with her son's. Turning to her son's friend she hooked her arm with his too, practically skipping to the gym. Ryosuke couldn't bring himself to scold as this is the happiest and most upbeat he had seen her in a long while.

They entered the gym Wataru and Nippori shouting greetings they had met a few times previously. Ryosuke politely as possible introduced his mother to his other teammates. He was lucky that she didn't mention anything about Mizusawa being at their house last night. It's not that he didn't want them to know…no, it was that he didn't want them to know. Nor did they NEED to know.

"Another spectator," Shoko-sensei asked, coming over to the group. She looked a the women still in arms with Kiyama and Ryosuke. She almost wondered if this was some scandalous affair with an older women, only the woman bore a striking resemblance to the boy to her right.

"Excuse my intrusion, I'm Ryosuke's mom, Tsukimori Ashira."

"Tsukimori Ashira, what a coincidence," Shoko muttered.

"What's a coincidence, baba," Wataru asked, slinging an arm over Ryousuke's shoulder. Ignoring the nickname Shoko answered.

"There was an Olympic gold medalist name Tsukimori Ashira. She won all around gold medal. As well as the gold on beam and floor. Japan won team silver that year, missing the United States by .45."

"Weird coincidence," Ryosuke nodded.

"Two years later she retired from gymnastics and no one has heard head or tale of her since."

"Well can't be kaa-chan, I mean she had aniki really young so the time I wouldn't add up correctly."

"I met your father in Osaka at the Olympic Team exhibition. It was held at his Senior High and I was 15 then, he was charming and sweet and I made the mistake of sleeping with him. Few unprotected sessions later and your brother happened. My coach and manager kept it under the radar and away from the press announcing my retirement from the gymnastics world for me. The money from endorsements I had bought that house we live in currently, which is why we never make payments and it also bought that car. The money ran out really quick when I got pregnant a second time and your father was no where to be found."

"Wait, kaa-chan, YOU were in the Olympics?"

"I was THE Olympian, Ryo-chan. From the time I was 6 years old to when I finally competed in the Olympics at 14 I was the gymnast everyone watched. I was the youngest gymnast ever to take gold."

"That explains where Ryosuke's natural ability comes from," Yuuta mumbled under his breath.

"You really are that Tsukimori Ashira? I show your winning floor routine to all my girls. Your final tumbling pass was flawless, I have all my girls aspire to that level. You were the best."

"Were. Past tense. I'm just here to support my son."

"Of course, please, observe as you wish, and if you see anything feel free to point it out," Shoko smiled, a air of excitement in her tone thought her face stayed stoic.

Ashira smiled kindly, telling the woman she would watch but she really had nothing to say. "Well, Ryo-chan, let me see my boy perform."

The girls sniggered at the pet name and Ryosuke heard himself sigh. It was going to be a long practice.

-chapter 4 owari-


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Our new performance will be based around tango, and it took me a long time to this decision," Yuuta announced. They had truly decided it as a group but this made it sound more official. "Actually, tango and flamenco."

"I picked a piece from a video game," Satoshi voiced. "Vamo'alla Flamenco is the title. I have the CD so we can listen to it. There's a bunch of different versions but if we mix the versions we can come up with a perfect combination."

"We'll need a strong beginning. Something that will immediately capture the audiences attention."

"How about a leg stretch? Mizusawa's leg on Ryosuke's shoulder, Ryosuke stands a bit back giving an extension. We'll stand behind them in a straight line, stepping out in time to a stagger," Kiyama suggested.

"That's actually a pretty good idea, but how would they smoothly get out of the move?" Kaneko questioned, fiddling with his glasses.

"Well I can either slide my leg back into the splits or I can back bend out."

"Can you back bend out without hitting Ryousuke though?"

"We can try now," Mizusawa suggested. "If we are doing an extension out I should be able to cleanly bend back."

Yuuta gave a nod of approval. "Try then."

The two boys stepped onto the mat, Mizusawa giving Ryosuke a coy smile before lifting his leg to the boy's shoulder and leaning his head forward. "DAMN! That's flexible!" Wataru yelled. "How long can you hold that?"

"I'm fine for at least two minutes."

"Ryosuke, step back with your right leg and bring Mizusawa forward. Mizusawa, follow the movement but don't move your right foot, keep planted."

Ryosuke did as instructed, stepping back bringing the other boy with him in an elongated extension. "Mizusawa, can you back bend out?"

"To my feet or to a splits?"

"To your feet, and then we can all simultaneously back hand spring before moving into formation for the arabesque."

Mizusawa nodded before reaching his arms back and slowing bending backwards. Relinquishing Ryosuke's shoulder he slowly brought his leg over before have the second joining and turning to his feet. To finish it off he did the back hand spring. "Show off," Ryosuke smirked causing the other to blush.

"So then if Ryosuke and I are doing that, how about lining up directly behind us. Not in a vertical line but horizontal. Start with the right hand above the face, just over the eyes and forehead. Standing straight up, swipe your right leg back making a complete circle to your left. Bring your left arm up and turn to your left or right. We can do the back hand spring from there."

"Wait, what?" Wataru asked, confused as all hell.

Taking a stance Mizusawa demonstrated the technique, turning his hips in sensuous but strong motions that were meant for the tango. Ryosuke found his eyes glued to the boys hips as they moved in a subtle gyration with his demonstration. No one but himself seem to see anything usual in the movements at all, though he knew he was drooling over the boy. Was he always this damn appealing?

"Not all of us can move like that," Nippori pointed out with a sigh.

"Yeah, not all of us are tiny and gifted with shaky wiggling hips or whatever," Wataru agreed.

"You could take dance lessons. Professional dance lessons," Ashira suggested before silencing herself again.

"Kaa-chan, isn't that kind of thing expensive? Besides we did just fine on our own at Kanto."

"They are unless you know the teacher. I mean I haven't spoken to her in…well, before your brother was born but if I know here she'll still be a dance teacher."

"Kaa-chan…"

"I can see for you, Ryo-chan, after all I need do SOMETHING as to be a good mother," she smiled.

-o-o-o-

"Tsukimori Ashira," the angry looking woman said. "I haven't seen you since you declined the National qualifier all those years ago. You were on top of the world and from what I hear you threw it all away for some kind. Even spawned a couple of brats."

"Same as ever Misori-san."

"Yes well I didn't ruin my life with children. Speaking of, lovely bunch of miscreants you have with you."

"OI! Don't talk to kaa-chan that way," Ryosuke glared, placing a protective arm around his mother's shoulders.

"Spawned a thug did you?"

"He's a little rough but Ryo-chan is a good boy."

The woman, Misori-san, circled around the group of boys, eyeing them all. Stopping at Mizusawa she tapped on his knee with her cane. "This one I like. This one too," she declared, placing her cane on Hino's head. She continued her walk stopping at Kiyama. "Strong build, strong posture, most likely a thug as well but he looks as if he could be a strong lead. You, you look like a bleeding porcupine, I will not have dead or dying animals in my class. You will fix that. YOU!" she pointed her cane at Kaneko. "You're to lanky and have the posture of an elderly man. You," the cane went to Nippori. "It's no longer the 1950s and this is not America, You will present yourself, including that hair, in a respectable manner. I have no room for a Danny Zuko wannabe."

Nippori leaned over to Wataru. "Who is Danny Zuko?"

"The hell if I know."

"Ashira's spawn," the cane land on the top of Ryosuke's head. "Pants are meant to be worn on the waist not the knees. Also, this is not France, we have no need for a hunchback, so stand straight," she ordered, smacking him in the back making the boy yelp. "And finally, you have a good height, and build but you lack strength or confidence. I'll fix that," she said to Yuuta. "For now," she walked around the back of the group. With her cane she pushed Kiyama to Mizusawa. "You two work together and you two," she pushed Hino into Ryosuke.

"May I request that no inappropriate touching be done," Shogo called, having followed his boyfriend to watch over him.

"What? Is he your boyfriend?"

"Actually…"

"I don't care," the woman scolded. "Listen here, I don't care if you're attracted to men, women, animals..whatever you do in your personal life will be left outside my studio. If I once here 'I can't touch him like that' I will hit you with this cane and it will hurt. And if you have objections 'boyfriend-san' then kindly get the hell out of my studio."

"With all due respect Misori-san, we are rhythmic gymnasts and our dancing isn't with each other…"

"To learn the movement of tango one must have a partner. If you can learn it correctly with a partner you can flow through each movement smoothly as a separate. Not only that rhythmic gymnastics is about synchronization, how better to become synchronized by dancing with a partner? Now, the two pairs, get onto the center of the floor."

The four did, Ryosuke hiking his pants up so he didn't get smacked for them being low. In the back of his mind he commented that there was no use dancing with Hino because he would have to be doing dance moves with Mizusawa.

"Misori-san, Mizusawa-sempai and Ryousuke-sempai will actually have moves in the performance that are together. Perhaps it will be more beneficial for them to dance together."

"Such a polite young man. What is your name?"

"Hino Tetsuya."

"Tetsuya-kun? I rather like that name, that was my father's name. Please. Please, do switch."

They switched partners, Mizusawa giving Ryosuke a small smile. He would have actually preferred to dance with Kiyama, the one he no longer had a crush on. "Now put your bodies together, don't look at me like that, do it."

They did as told, Mizusawa already feeling the red creep to his cheeks. "Ashira's spawn and, I'm sorry, your name?"

"Kiyama."

"Given name."

"It's Ryuichiro, Misori-san," Satoshi called to her, making Kiyama stare at him in a death glare attempt. Satoshi merely smiled brightly back.

"Ryuichiro, I like that name as well. Ryuichiro-kun. Ashira's spawn. Place your left arm around your partners waist, splaying your fingers across their back. Tetsuya-kun and.."

"Mizusawa Taku, Misori-san."

"Taku-kun, right arm around your partners shoulder. Lock your free hands and hold that pose." Misori-san went over to Kiyama and Hino, her cane taping ominously against the floor.

"Lock your arm," Mizusawa whispered, gripping Ryousuke's hand tightly. "Keep your left arm firm, and keep your body completely straight."

Misori-san came over to them looking them over. "You may have talent after all, Ashira's spawn, or is it you just take correction well? Taku-kun, why did you correct him?"

"It literally takes two to tango and if he fails, I fail. If we fail then our whole team fails."

"Very good. We'll start easy. Step back on your right and bring your left to meet. Don't lose your posture, don't go limp, keep your partners body to your own. And step…"

-o-o-o-

"That old bag is going to be the death of me," Ryosuke complained, taking a sip of his beer.

"Where did Ashira-san go?"

"Hm? Oh, she went to work. She took the last few days off to help us with dance and so now she has to go back. I'll tell you what, two days with that crazy old bat and I'm dead."

"Ryosuke, it's only been two days of lessons. We have more Monday."

"Which is why I intend to get drunk now and sleep Sunday away. You sure you don't want some?" he asked, handing the can out to Mizusawa.

"I don't drink."

"Have you ever tried it?"

"No but I heard it hurts when you wake up in the morning with a headache and your eyes hurt and you feel like you are going to puke."

"Which is why I said I'm going to sleep the entire day away. I'm going to sleep through the hang-over. Come on, one sip won't hurt you. Whenever I finally get drunk off my ass you can get Sugamiya pick you up or something."

"Ryousuke," Mizusawa sighed, taking the beer from him. Bringing the can to his lips he took a quick sip, cringing at the bitter liquid before handing it back. Ryosuke laughed, pulling a small cup from his nightstand. Pouring a small amount of the gold liquid in he handed it to the other boy.

"Kampai! Just kick it back."

"Kick it back?"

Taking the shot glass back Ryosuke tipped it up and down his throat in one swallow. "Like that." He refilled the glass before handing it to Mizusawa. "You won't even taste it, and a little alcohol in your system could do you some good."

"I-I st-still don't know."

"It'll kill the pain from that old bat's cane too."

"But Ryosuke, only you and Wataru got hit with the cane."

"Besides the point! Bottom's up, Mizusawa."

Closing his eyes he emptied the liquid down his throat, still cringing as it touched his tongue.

"You should try tequila, that shit burns as its going down. I think my brother has a bottle of it." Hoping up from the bed Ryosuke left his room, going to his brother's room despite Mizusawa's protest of no need to drink that. Ryosuke re-entered his bedroom, sliding the door close before jumping on his bed. "Two small shot bottles," he smirked, handing one to Mizusawa. "Dozo."

"I-I re-really shouldn't.."

"Come on, Mizusawa, live a little," Ryosuke smirked, popping the cap off his own tiny little bottle. Hesitantly Mizusawa took the cap off the bottle. "Hey, you're 18 not 8, have some fun. You've been a good boy all your life. Have you ever rebelled against your parents?"

"Of course not."

"Then try…KAMPAI!" Ryosuke yelled, downing his bottle of tequila.

Mizusawa took a deep breath before downing his own bottle. He coughed as the liquid burned his throat on it's way down. Wiping his mouth, he cringed as the burning began to fade. "Jello shots next. Kaa-chan has some left-over ones in the fridge."

"Ryosuke, I really can't.."

"Jello shots are only like 20 percent vodka, don't worry about it."

Many different alcoholic drinks later including, but not limited to, screwdriver, Tequila sunrise, B-52, and Acapulco, Mizusawa felt his head swimming. He had never had liquor before and this seemed like a little to much but Ryosuke kept pushing drink after drink on him. He knew he should have said no but he couldn't protest. If he remembered right he had so many different liquors swirling around his stomach. Tequila was definitely one, and vodka. He knew there was probably rum in one of those drinks and some other liquors but he couldn't remember.

"You're still so quiet for a drunk, Taku-kun," Ryosuke laughed in his own drunken haze. "I kind of want to make you scream."

"I should get home," he answered, giggling randomly for some reason.

"You have all week to come home," Ryosuke muttered, grabbing Mizusawa's arm and pulling him to the bed. The boy stumbled up, falling to his side. "I want to fuck you," he said, nuzzling into the other boys neck. "I'm so horny and there's no chicks around and you move your hips better than a chick…"

"No chicken?" his mind was so gone right now, he hardly understood what was being said. "Horny chicken?"

Ryosuke laughed, rolling his hips into Mizusawa's making the boy gasp. "Let me fuck you. We gots to sweat out the alcohol…sex is good exercise." Mizusawa nodded dumbly, not fully comprehending what the other boy was saying.

"I want to have sex with you Ryo-chan…"

Ryosuke crawled on top of the other. "Don't have condoms.."

"Can't get pregnant..no need…I'm clean.."

"So am I.."

"I want you, Ryosuke…"

"I want to make you scream, Taku."

-o-o-o-

Mizusawa groaned when he awoke the next morning. His head was pounding like a drum. Sighing he collapsed against his pillow, he was happy to have got home last night safely. Speaking of home, he couldn't remember HOW he got home. Hell, he couldn't even remember much of last night back the tequila shot. It was all rather blurry. He tried to remember anything only to hold his head in pain.

When he heard a creak from the bed he stiffened. There was someone else in the room with him, in the bed. Ryosuke? Shogo? He didn't know. Slowly his eyes shifted upwards to see Ryosuke's familiar face. He sighed in relief, so he had just fallen asleep at Ryosuke's last night. Thank god. He almost thought something bad had happened.

Ryosuke groaned in obvious pain and shifted. Dark eyes widened so quickly that it was hard to believe the yankee had been asleep. Mizusawa's eyes were equally wide at what he felt, or DIDN'T feel. Neither one of them were wearing clothes under that thin sheet, they were both very naked. Mizusawa tried to sit up only to fall back to the bed as a sharp pain shot up his spine. Not only that there was a very questionable substances on his inner thighs and in other areas.

"Shit," Ryosuke cursed, hitting the pillow, startling Mizusawa and making him whimper in pain. "Hey, you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, it's just…I'm fine," he blushed.

"That wasn't supposed to happen and I'm really sorry for forcing you.."

"I don't think it was forced, Ryosuke, I think I consented to it."

"I am throwing all alcohol in this house out! Damn it I can't believe I was this damn stupid. I should know better than to do something like this drunk, fuck."

Mizusawa nodded, silently agreeing that this shouldn't have happened like this. He was meant to remember his first time.

"I'll get you some pain killers and we'll try to remember what the fuck happened last night. One thing for sure though, NO ONE can find out about this."

"I don't want anyone to find out either. Um…can you also get me a wash cloth to clean off?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll be right back," Ryosuke said, sliding out of the bed and putting his clothes back on, where they would remain.

He returned moments later with a wet cloth, a cup of water, and pain relievers. Handing the cloth to Mizusawa he averted his attention as the boy cleaned himself of all bodily fluids.

"I've never slept with someone that let me take them bare or let me…inside them for that matter."

"Yo-You've only slept with girls, girls worry about getting pregnant, I don't."

"Yeah, right?" Ryosuke smiled, tossing a yukata to the boy in the bed. With many whimpers of pain Mizusawa finally managed to get the object around his body before accepting the medication to ease his pain. Once the awkward bit of being naked and waking up together semi passed, Ryosuke sat on the floor.

"Now, what exactly happened last night?"

-chapter 5 owari-


	6. Chapter 6

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Don't you boys have auditions in less then 2 days?" the woman snapped, smacking her cane against the gym floor. "You're not the Sharks nor the Jets, even if you insist on dressing like 50s styles gangsters. Do NOT flail your arms about. This is the flamenco and tango, not Singing in the Rain, understood?"

"Hai, Misori-san," the boys chorused in unison. The girls didn't have the heart to snicker at them as that woman had a rotten streak a mile long. "Taku-kun, your movements are perfect. If only you had a better suited partner than Ashira's spawn."

"OI!"

"Run your routine. If it's so horrid I have to stop you, then you will be receiving a hit from my cane."

The boys gulped before going to their starting positions. Shogo glared slightly as he was still not comfortable with this starting position or how close his boyfriend's face was to the other male's. They looked just a little to comfortable with each other.

The music played and the boys went through their routine, they knew when they had done something wrong as Misori-san would tap the ground with her cane. When they came to the end they thought the woman was going to put a hole in the floor and when the music ended she gave an aggravated noise. "Ashira's spawn, what exactly was that?"

"What do you mean?" he glared.

"You intend to break his back? Or perhaps his neck? You can't carelessly spin him down like that, you have to give him the right support and make sure he has support on you. On that note, do not push him back up like he's a rag doll. If you can not do the move accurately do not attempt it. You'll start from the beginning again, and do it till it's perfect."

"Ryo-chan, why don't you do the full layout," Ashira asked, walking over to her son. "You did a half, why not full? It's a round off triple back, layout, right?" Sliding off her shoes she stepped onto the mat. "Give your body an extra twist and you can do the full layout." Taking a run across the mat she dove into the round off, flipping backwards three consecutive times before jumping into the air spinning her body completely around. The moment her feet hit the ground she bounced forward in a tuck, throwing her arms in the air in a finishing pose. "Been a long time since I've done that," she smiled, to the silent awed gym.

"Kaa-chan," he whispered in awe. "That was…"

"Really messy. That's the first time I've done a pass in..20 years, please don't do the math," she warned the boys who were staring at the young woman. "I can show you how to do it, Ryo-chan, easy peasy."

Shoko stared at the petite woman as she showed her son and the other gymnasts how to pull off a full layout. Telling Kashiwagi to monitor the girls for her she left the gym, heading to the principle's office. The other teachers, as usual, sat around gossiping about this or that. Walking straight up to the vice-principal she placed her hands on the desk. "I would like to request an assistant coach."

"An assistant coach? This is sudden and.."

"Tsukimori Ashira can be the assistant coach, she has experience in the gymnastics world and would be a valuable asset to both the boys and girls teams."

"Tsukimori?"

"Related to THAT Tsukimori," the teachers gossiped.

"Well, I can examine this woman and.."

"She's here now, so please feel free to come to the gym," Shoko insisted, the plump man hesitantly getting up. Not wanting to upset the, sometimes scary, coach he followed her back to the gym. They entered the gym to see the woman demonstrating how to do a back tuck layout.

"See it's that easy. Once you start rotating it's easy enough to spin the rest of the way around. We use to practice arabians with a harness so we didn't bust our ass. But we usually did round off, back full arabians with a twist. Busted my tailbone more than once attempting that without the harness."

"Tsukimori-san," the vice principal called.

"I'm in trouble? What's that like Ryo-chan, I never went to normal school and I know you're familiar with the principal's office," she teased. "Misori-san, you can have them back now."

"Good, time to whip them into shape," she declared, rapping Ryosuke sharply on the behind. The boy yelped in boy, glaring at her.

"Damned old crone, that fucking hurts."

"It wasn't intended to feel good. Back to first position."

"Hai, principal-san," she asked kindly.

"Tsukimori-san, I would like to offer you a job…."

-o-o-o-

"A job? Like an actual job?"

She nodded. "Being the assistant coach for both gymnastics teams, I also have to homeroom a class but nothing to dramatic. If I accept than I can quite hosting but I will still have to work at the diner."

"The diner is fine, but wouldn't you make more money as a host than a teacher?"

"I'll be making about 10,000 more as a teacher. It's an offer I really can't turn down, and I'll be doing gymnastics again. I've been looking a long time to get away from the drugs and alcohol," she said, taking a cigarette and putting it to her lips. Ryosuke took the cigarette and snapped it in half.

"I had to quit smoking for my gymnastics you have to quit for yours."

"Hai. Hai. Oh, by the way, Ryo-chan, the other night I came home to get some cash I left here…."

"Your point?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mm, have any late night extraneous activities going on?"

"Don't know what you are…EH?" he yelled, jumping up from the couch and pointing at her.

"Relax, Ryosuke, it's not like I didn't already know you were having sex. I just didn't know you played for both teams."

"I'M NOT GAY!"

"Don't be ashamed. It's nothing to be ashamed about."

"I'm not gay," he growled. "I like chicks. Boobs, vagina, and all…"

"Taku-kun doesn't have any of those things," she smirked, twirling a strand of her wavy hair. "Yet you seem to have been enjoying yourself just fine."

"How do you even know it was Mizusawa with me?"

"Hm..and I quote," she smirked. "'Fuck! Taku, you're so fucking tight. Tighter than any girl' and Taku-kun just whimpered asking you to pound him deeper. Of course there was more wonderful dialogue as I walked out about how you wanted him to ride you, and you wanted to keep…"

"ENOUGH!" he blushed. "I'm going to my room," he huffed stopping away.

"I'll pick you up some lubricant next time I'm at the market, the nice warming kind," she yelled after him with a giggle before he slammed his door shut.

Collapsing onto the bed he pulled the blanket over his head to go to sleep. A nice long needed sleep.

-o-

"_God you're so fucking tight," he groaned pounding harder into the dry orifice. Long legs wrapped around his waist, a thin back arched high off the sheets._

"_Ry-Ryosuke…ha-harder…" the boy beneath him whimpered, meeting each of the thrusts into his body. With a smirk the intoxicated boy dove down to the pale neck presented to him, biting to leave a mark._

"_Y-you like having your ass pounded? You want this deep inside you," he purred, thrusting harder and deeper making the boy cry in want. His only response were desperate nods, a whimper, and nails digging into his back. Pulling out he pried the other boy off of him, flipping him over. "Hands and knees he ordered…"_

_Mizusawa didn't resist, immediately climbing to his knees and practically offering his opening to Ryosuke. The yankee didn't waste another second, thrusting back inside. His thrusts were frantic and deep, eager to make the boy beneath him scream more. "Close," he groaned, gripping Mizusawa's hips hard. The boy pushed back against him, muttering for him to finish inside. Briefly Ryosuke's eyes widened before he did as asked, thrusting deeper and releasing inside the smaller boy. Pulling out he collapsed to the bed, the other intoxicated teen immediately climbing on top of him._

"_More," he husked. "Fuck me till I can't walk, Ryo-su-ke.."_

-o-

Ryosuke shot up in bed, cold sweat running down his face, arousal evident. Faintly he registered those events he just dreamed about was from his intoxicated tryst with Mizusawa. Even worse than remembering? He remembered the thought that, that night had been the best sex he had ever had.

-o-o-o-

"What are you doing, you insolent brat?" Misori-san scolded, hitting Ryosuke on the head repeatedly with her cane. "Don't you have auditions for Nationals tomorrow; and you are flopping on the most basic moves. Go take a cold shower, then come back ready to dance."

With a scowl, Ryosuke kicked at the air leaving the gym to go wash his face.

"Ryosuke, what's the matter?" Mizusawa asked, having followed his dance partner to get a drink of water. Pulling the boy behind a wall he pressed him to the wall, kissing him harshly. Mizusawa moaned, wrapping his arms around Ryosuke's neck, fighting the exploring tongue in his mouth in earnest. Grabbing Mizusawa's thigh Ryosuke hooked it around his own waist, rolling his hips forward into the other boy's. Mizusawa moaned in pleasure, pulling away from the kiss. "Ryosuke.."

"My problem is sex. Last night I had a dream about fucking you. About the night we had sex and today that's ALL I can think about. Touching you in intimate places during our routine. Watching your flexibility, makes me want to do so many things to you."

"I-I th-thought you weren't gay."

"I'm not gay."

"Th-then…"

"I like you. I'm attracted to you. One guy..not many. I'm not gay."

"But Ryosuke.."

"Fine, I'm gay for you, is that what you wanted to hear?"

Mizusawa smiled, kissing the taller boy softly. "No, but it was nice to hear. I was going to say we are at practice so this position isn't exactly appropriate and we have wild card auditions tomorrow."

"I forgot, but later you have to let me have you."

"If we make it to Nationals I'll let you have sex with me, but you have to break up with those girls."

Ryosuke's smirk dropped. "What?"

"I'm not a notch, alright? You want me then you have to give up those girls, how many are there? Seven?"

"Six! You can't be serious! Asking me to change and shit and we aren't even going out."

"I'm not asking you to change, I'm asking you to choose. Multiple females or me. I'm sorry, Ryosuke, but I really can't be in a sexual relationship with a guy that sleeps around. Doesn't matter if they are gay or straight."

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Look if I cut off all those girls to be with you that makes me gay. I'm NOT gay."

Mizusawa shrugged. "They say a lot of girls get attached to the first guy they have sex with. I'm not like that. I'm not attached to you. We had sex, it happened, neither one of us deny it. But I'm not going to keep having sex with you like those cavalier girls you are dating. Can you even remember all their names?"

"YES!" No, he rectified in his head. "Look, fuck this, I don't need this shit. Totally killed my arousal, thanks Mizusawa, think I can dance now."

Inwardly Mizusawa pouted, he was kind of hoping Ryosuke would give those girls up for him. As much as he hated to admit it, Shogo was starting to annoy him and he wanted bad boy Ryosuke to be his boyfriend. For a moment he contemplated using Shogo to make Ryosuke jealous, but quickly disposed of that thought. He wasn't the type to use that tactic. Then again, if Ryosuke wanted someone that would fight, he could do that, because he really wanted Ryosuke all to himself.

-o-o-o-

"You have to beat these four other teams and then you get to go to Nationals?" Shogo asked, arms wrapped securely around his boyfriend. Mizusawa smiled up at the baseball player.

"That's right, and then at Nationals if we get a top two spot we can go to Worlds. But that is as far as rhythmic gymnastics goes, they don't have a category for that in the Olympics yet."

Shogo looked to the boys stretching on the mats and his arms tightened around his boyfriend. "You guys can beat them, no problem."

Mizusawa smiled, leaning up and kissing the man softly on the lips. "You're so sweet, Shogo-san."

Just down from them Kiyama hid a laugh behind his hand at the annoyed twitch of Ryosuke's eyebrow. He had the commend the boy, he learned how to play dirty. Maybe being friends with yankees was a bad influence.

"Yeah, after the auditions you can take me out to eat, I don't mind.." Mizusawa laughed. Ryosuke crossed his arms, glaring at the college man. If he was still a fighter he'd beat the ever loving life out of that man for touching Mizusawa.

The announcer came on announcing they would be begging the auditions. Karasumori high would be going third, nice and in the middle. They watched the first team perform a graceful ballet type routine in perfect synchronization earning a score of 18.000 even. The second team faired just as well with a score of 18.350. Shoko-sensei hadn't been kidding when she said these were elite teams.

Walking to the mat as their name was announced they lined up on the edge. Yuuta stepped forward raising his hand with a loud 'hai'. A couple of their opposing teams sniggered having heard rumors about their past performances. The girls who had come to watch cheered them on, while Satoshi, Kaneko, and Nippori yelled 'Kara High Fighto'. Taking a deep breath they stepped onto the mat getting into their starting positions. The other teams sniggered at the pose Mizusawa and Ryosuke took, a tango pose, close together, since they decided to make the extension a surprise.

"You're doing that on purpose," Ryosuke hissed under his breath. Mizusawa gave him a look as to say 'I don't know what you're talking about.' The low guitar strum began and Mizusawa slowly lifted his leg completely vertical setting it on Ryosuke's shoulder, the boy gripping his thigh and pulling him forward as he stepped back. Bending backwards and a impressive display of flexibility he flipped over to his feet before they all did a standing Arabian earning a large applauses from the crowd. As they did each dance move they moved into positions for their arabesque, doing their breast extensions before turning and doing an arabesque. In their heads they imagined Yuuta's determination to hold it for five as opposed to the two they had been doing. The crowd cheered wildly as they back hand sprang, and began a second set of dance moves that would take them into the first tumbling and hardest tumbling pass.

Yuuta ran, diving into a round off, doing a double back into a full back flip. Wataru and Kiyama followed after him, with a round off triple back, back tuck. Mizusawa looked at Ryosuke and they took off at the exact same moment both going into simultaneously round off backs. Ryosuke jumped into the air spining his body in a twist rolling just as Mizusawa flew over his head. Landing on his feet Ryosuke flipped forward into an Arabian to put himself facing the correct way. Hino flew through the air in a double back, Wataru and Kiyama catching him and swinging him around. Rolling forward, Mizusawa got into position doing a standing triple back hand spring into a full layout as they released Hino straight into the air the boy hitting the ground and jumping forward in a front tuck before doing a standing round off and moving into position for the stag.

The crowd cheered wildly as the boys laid back, rolling forward into a beautiful five second stag handstand. They rolled out to yet another massive applause. Shoko stared in awe as the boys danced and moved across the floor, she could hardly believe this was the same team from two weeks again. They were pulling stunts that Washizu pulled. They were even pulling stunts more advanced than Washizu. Her eyes widened as they executed a beautiful triple back with half rotation controlled fall. There was just…they could win Nationals at this rate. The crowd awed as Ryosuke spun Mizusawa down pushing the boy back up and pulling him into the ending pose, with Mizusawa leg wrapped backward about his waist. Exiting the mat they were immediately assaulted by their other teammates with hugs and cheers, even they were so excited. The routine hardly seemed the three minutes long that it was. "Karasumori High," the announcer called, the light board flicking in. Eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as they saw the yellow numbers. There was no way just no way.

"HELL YES!" Wataru yelled, picking up Yuuta and spinning him around. 18.800. Higher than Washizu's score at Kanto. They hugged each other cheering in disbelief. There was no doubt, with a score that high, they were going to Nationals.

-o-o-o-

"KAMPAI!" the boys yelled as if to take a shot but instead dug into large plates of omelet rice.

"Nationals, how about that Yuuta?" Wataru cheered, sticking his fist out to the other boy. Yuuta happily bumped the fist.

"Minna, let's win Nationals, and then Worlds," Yuuta told them with a large smile on his face. Their good mood was broken when an angry woman came slamming into the diner.

"Tsukimori Ryosuke…" she sneered.

"Reika-chan," Nippori and Wataru murmured. They were surprised to see her. She was the only girl Ryosuke actually considered a girlfriend but they hardly ever saw her except on rare occasions. "YOU don't break up with ME! I break up with YOU! That's how it works, what a lame ass excuse too. You found someone else..bull shit," she yelled. "You have issues and are a man-whore. The only reason I tolerated you was because you're attractive."

"Reika-chan, let's take this outside," he chuckled nervously, pushing the girl outside.

"Like hell. I want to know who the tramp is. You fuck her and fall for her? Or better yet is she pregnant?"

"Look I told you from the start, you're a good looking girl but you're to damn needy and attention whore. You were actually somewhat good in the sex is why I kept you around. I like spoiling my lover but not have them smoother me. Besides we both know you were fucking what's his name, that sensei at your school."

"OH FUCK YOU, TSUKIMORI!" she yelled. "As if you don't fuck around. You don't think I know about those other girls you fucked around with."

"At least they were my age and not 15 years older than me."

"Well what can I expect from a whore's son? She sleeps around so naturally you do. Like mother like son," she sneered. The reaction was instantaneous, the boys jumped up to literally hold Ryosuke back as he was going to kill the girl for even to DARE insult his mother. Luckily Natsuko-chan stepped in, not to kindly asking the girl to leave the premises or she would call the police.

"I'm going home," Ryosuke scoffed, his night being officially ruined.

-o-o-o-

Hearing the door bell ring Ryosuke was surprised to see Mizusawa standing outside dripping wet. He looked around at the wet streets surprised to see it how showered. "I think we had an agreement," he whispered stepping inside. Ryosuke looked him up and down.

"I only broke up with two."

Mizusawa shrugged, wrapping his arms around Ryosuke, soaking his own clothes through. "Ryosuke.."

Ryosuke pushed the boy back, kissing him hard on the mouth. As they stumbled back to his bedroom, a discarded trail of clothes was the only hint to their activities.

-o-o-o-

Mizusawa moaned at each touch; at the feel of hands and teeth. "Twice already and you'll still so sensitive," Ryousuke smirked, resuming his play with a pert nub. He already had Mizusawa twice tonight and the boy was still begging for more. He could honestly say that no girl he'd ever dated had the stamina for three go's.

"D-Did you mean me, when you told her you found someone else?" he asked through a shuddering moan.

"And if I did…?"

"Nnh…"

"What if I said that brief little jealously game made me want to take you away from that guy? Claim you as my own?"

"I..nnh..Ryosuke..mo-mouth..," he whimpered. Ryosuke smirked, complying by covering the erect nub with his mouth, sucking and flicking at it with his tongue.

"You're so cute, Taku-kun." Pulling away from the other gymnast completely, Ryosuke removed the skull necklace from around his own neck and held it out. "Take it."

"Wh-what?"

"Take it. Wear it."

"Why?"

"Look I'm going to give this 'dating another guy' thing a try so just take the damn necklace."

Mizusawa laughed, taking the jewelry and sliding it around his own neck. "Does this mean we are dating now?"

"Yea, but don't tell the others and break up with prep-school boy."

Cuddling into his boyfriend's-inwardly he danced and cheered at this term-naked chest, he smiled. "Gladly." Just like that, he had the bad boy he always wanted.

-chapter 6 owari-


	7. Chapter 7

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: T

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"That's so great for you, Mizusawa-sempai," Satoshi smiled, as they changed. They were the only ones in the clubroom at the moment so they were able to talk freely. "But what about Shogo-san?"

"I'm going to talk to him today and politely tell him that's he's very sweet but just not my type."

"Because yankee are your type," Satoshi teased, making his sempai blush. The door opened admitting two said yankees into the clubroom. Mizusawa couldn't stop the large smile that grew on his face as his boyfriend wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Sleepy," he murmured, leaning his head on Mizusawa's shoulder. Next to them Satoshi giggled like an excited girl for her friend. "Aniki came home last night with friends and they decided to blare the radio. Think he was having an orgy or something."

"An orgy?"

"Wouldn't put it past him," Ryousuke yawned. "I'm sleepy, no practice, sleep," he mumbled, actually beginning to fall asleep.

"Off leech," Kiyama sighed, pulling Ryosuke off of Mizusawa just as Yuuta and Kaneko walked in. Ryosuke took a playful swing at him, demanding he let go of his shirt collar. Mizusawa and Satoshi chuckled at them, Mizusawa pulling on his pink team shirt to cover Ryosuke's necklace that hung securely around his neck. He probably should take it off during practice, but he just got it a couple of days ago and liked the feeling of ownership that came with it.

"Nationals," Yuuta declared when everyone was gathered. "This is a very big deal, we have an actual chance to beat Washizu."

"Decimate to the ground more like it," Wataru smirked with a fist pump.

"Then are we going to use the same performance from auditions," Nippori asked. He wanted to perform too, but if that performance was the winning performance who was he to argue?

"Nationals are a week and a half away. In three days we'll have another test to choose the six for the performance, like last time tumbling will be a huge factor. So today, we will work on tumbling and balance for the test, alright?"

Nippori cheered. He was happy that Kiyama got to perform, having been incapacitated last time, but Nippori really wanted a chance to perform. There was no doubt that Yuuta, Hino, Ryosuke, and Mizusawa would make it. They were all expert tumblers and performers, with natural ability. Wataru would probably make it as he was Wataru and just had that Wataru-ness that made people gravitate to him. That left one spot open.

All through practice Nippori listened intently to each piece of advice Ashira-sensei gave as she led him through it. All the critiques and focal points. Already he had fallen six times on his ass trying the standing arabian that was at the beginning of their performance. The only upside was that Kaneko was having as much trouble as he was at nailing it. Downside? Kiyama was landing it perfectly.

"Hey, four-eyes," he called out on their break. Kaneko looked at him with the usually 'bring it on' face. "You want to meet me later tonight to practice tumbling?"

"Yeah," he eagerly replied. "We can't lose to Kiyama."

"And we can't lose to each other either," Nippori smirked as a challenge.

"I will be victorious and perform at Nationals," Kaneko declared, dramatically pointing to the sky.

"Not if I kick your ass at try-outs," Nippori said, pushing him slightly in a playful manner-

-o-o-o-

Mizusawa dropped his bag by the gym door, sighing in exhaustion.

"You okay?" his boyfriend asked from where he sat stretching on the mat.

Shaking his head, Mizusawa toed off his shoes and came over to sit on the mat next to Ryosuke. Laying his head in the other's lap he let another sigh escape. "I broke up with Shogo-san."

"And..?"

"Didn't go very well. He accused me of sleeping around with the entire yakuza and how you were going to turn me into some yankee slut. I tried to tell him it wasn't like that but he kept on going. I finally cracked and just said he really needed to shut up and stop downing on yankees just because his ex left him for one. He basically said my parents would never approve of you. You would rape me and kill me the first chance you got."

"Damn, what did you say to him," Ryosuke whistled, running a hand through Mizusawa's hair.

"I told him he was really nice and very sweet and clean cut, but that's not the type of guy I'm looking for. He saw your necklace and went off, saying I wanted the type of guy that was messy, dyed his hair and would throw me into gangbangs…"

"So this guy basically verbally abused you for an hour? I'm gonna kill him."

"It's fine, Ryosuke, he didn't try to hit me or anything," Mizusawa smiled, hugging the light brunette around the waist.

"Still, he needs to shut his goddamned mouth. Only person touching, hugging, kissing, or fucking you is me got it?"

"Got it," he nodded, sitting up and kissing Ryosuke softly. Ryosuke returned the gentle kiss, pulling Mizusawa back to him for a rough one when they broke apart. Lowering the smaller boy to his back he crawled over him, the promise in his eyes of what was about to happen.

"Right here?" Mizusawa gasped, Ryosuke's mouth nipping at his pulse.

"Why not? No one needs to know," he smirked, kissing Mizusawa hard again. Mizusawa happily fought the tongue in his mouth, arms wrapping around Ryosuke's body and pulling his shirt up. They were supposed to be practicing for Nationals, but that could wait till they were done. Wrapping his legs around Ryosuke's waist, they both groaned as their arousals ground together. Before being with Mizusawa, Ryosuke had always wondered how gay guys got off on rubbing together, but now he knew. The friction was just so damned hot.

Pushing Mizusawa's shirt up his mouth descended to his chest, worshipping the nubs with bites and hard sucks. "Ryosuke," he whimpered, arching off the mat. Running a hand up Ryosuke's back he tangled his fingers in the messy strands, forcing Ryosuke up to kiss him passionately.

A gym bag fell to the floor with a loud bang making them both look. The two boys in the door way stood there staring at the two splayed out on the mat in more than a compromising position. Nippori's eyes were wide on Ryosuke as Kaneko cleaned his glasses repeatedly, blinking in disbelief.

Slowly they untangled themselves, climbing to their feet and straightening out their clothes. "What are you to doing here?" Ryosuke asked, pissed to have been interrupted.

"We came to practice tumbling," Kaneko answered.

"Apparently you're doing Mizusawa here," Nippori answered, eyes still wide.

"W-We were…" Mizusawa began only to be cut off by his boyfriend.

"What we were doing is none of your damn business. If you're here to practice, then let's practice," he glared stepping over to his starting spot for their routine. Mizusawa blushed bright before going to join him. "Standing arabians," Ryousuke declared, jumping backwards in the twisting tuck known as an arabian. "Get your asses moving." They all sweat dropped, something told them they had stepped on Ryosuke's bad side.

-o-o-o-

"You think they'll tell?"

"Ch', they ain't going to say a damn thing. Now go to sleep."

"You're pissed off, aren't you? Because they caught us? Because they caught you making out with me? Because they might think you are gay?"

"Please just lay down and go to sleep," he repeated.

"I can go home, if you would prefer. I mean, I don't want to upset you further…" Mizusawa whispered, getting up. Ryousuke reached over, pushing him back down.

"I'm not mad at you, alright? I'm mad at myself. I'm not afraid about what they'll think of me but what they'll think of you. I'm afraid they'll think you seduced me or it was all your fault. I'm just worried about you, alright?"

Accepting this answer he laid back down, facing the wall. The bed creaked with Ryosuke's shift of weight. Mizusawa smiled, cuddling backwards when his boyfriend threw his arm over his waist, and nuzzled his neck. "Oyasumi, Ryosuke."

"Oyasumi, Taku," Ryosuke yawned, pulling Mizusawa closer, falling into a deep sleep.

-o-o-o-

"Oi, Ryosuke, I've been wondering, where did your necklace go?" Wataru asked.

"Gave it away," he answered, nonchalantly.

"Gave it away? You just gave it away? You never take that damn thing off, why would you just give it away."

Ryosuke shrugged. "Wanted to give it to my girlfriend so I did."

"Whoa, wait, you're actually serious enough about a girl to give her your necklace? Damn that's commitment coming from you," Wataru laughed, patting his best friend on the back. "So how many you got this time? 8? 9?"

"One," Ryosuke dated. "I kind of decided to be a one person man, if that's cool with you."

"One person,…? I'm so proud of you, Ryosuke," Wataru cheered, hugging his best friend tightly. "Will we get to meet this one? Oh, I can't wait, she can come to Nationals and then she can come over to my place and we can decided if she's worthy of you."

"Wataru, you can meet her when I want you too."

"I'm so proud of you, Ryosuke," he cooed again. In the background Nippori chuckled nervously with a silent 'aniki'. The teasing continued as a whole they walked to the gym, Wataru taking every chance he could get to tease Ryosuke. They had been so wrapped up in watching the little tease show, they failed to notice their baby had yet to show up until he came running by with an apology.

Yuuta gave a kind smile and said it was fine, they all had their late mornings. Hurrying into the club him, he quickly changed into his clothes. He hated being late for training, especially when they had Nationals coming up and couldn't afford errors. Closing his locker, he realize only seconds later that he had shut it to hard and cause Mizusawa's bag to fall out of his slightly ajar locker door. Sighing in annoyance he picked it back up, placing it back in the locker. A small clang caught his attention. Picking the necklace he faintly recalled seeing Ryosuke wearing it. "Why does Mizusawa-sempai have this?" he mused out loud. Deciding it was not his business he put it back into Mizusawa's gym bag before running up to the gym.

When he entered the gym the first thing he heard was Wataru teasing the other boy about the missing necklace. This sparked Hino's curiosity. Ryosuke was claiming he gave it to his newest girlfriend so why did Mizusawa have it? He shook the thought from his head. Not his business, he reminded. Besides it wasn't like Mizusawa stole it, he wasn't that type.

"Come on, give details," Wataru yelled before doing a standing back tuck like Ashira ordered. The moment he landed it he was back on Ryosuke's case. "Measurements? Colors? Something.."

"Standing back hand spring arabian," Ashira ordered, trying to distract her son's best friend.

"Black hair, dark eyes, happy?" he sighed, doing the standing back hand spring arabian that Wataru was meant to do.

"That describes like 90 percent of the girls in Japan. Are you sure you didn't just lose it and are trying to play cool?"

Ryosuke gave him to look to say 'are you serious?' making Wataru laugh out loud. "Come on, have you fucked her yet?"

"Azuma!" Shoko yelled, at hearing the obscenity. "Against the wall, 10 minutes," she ordered. Wataru sighed walking over to the wall and flipping up into a hand stand. Mizusawa was standing off to the side of the mat, giving instructions to Nippori as he worked on cleaning his own standing jumps. Walking up to his sempai Hino came to the conclusion to just ask.

"Why do you have Ryosuke-sempai's necklace?" he whispered, not wanting to attract attention.

"I-it…I-I found it the other day," Mizusawa stuttered. "Keep your arms closer, Nippori, that will help control the rotation. I was me-meaning to give it back but haven't had the chance."

"Shouldn't I be getting higher off the ground, I feel to low."

"Not on a standing," Mizusawa shook his head. Hino knew Mizusawa was hiding something-he always stuttered when he was lying-but decided not to push it. They would slip up eventually, but the slip up he was expecting was not what he saw. Two hours later on their break he decided to go to the faucets to clean up and was surprised to see Ryosuke with his arm wrapped around Mizusawa's waist, the two chatting with large smiles. Could it be…? Ryosuke leaned in kissing Mizusawa softly before motioning with his head to the gym. Hino swore his mouth fell open. Homophobic Ryosuke and gay Mizusawa? Dating? This had to be a dream. Just a crazy dream.

-o-o-o-

"1...2...3..4.." Yuuta counted off, he scowled out loud when not only Nippori faulted, but Kaneko and even Hino faulted on the arabesque. What was going on? All day they had been flopping things in practice. They had a day and a half till the try-outs and they were distracted. "What is going on with you guys?"

"Really? Why are all of you all shaky and falling," Wataru asked.

"I just have a lot on my mind," Hino answered, getting nods from Nippori and Kaneko in agreement.

"Minna, we don't have time to mess around. Nationals is so close and we can't forward to waver with relationships, or clouded minds," Yuuta told them, hands on his hips. The other day it was Wataru bugging Ryosuke now it was three of his teammates with to much on their minds. This was not how practice was meant to go. By the end of the day Yuuta was ready to borrow Misori-san's cane and beat all of his teammates with it. They finally obtained their dream yet no one but himself seemed to care.'

The next morning he arrived early for practice. He needed time to himself to compose what he would say. They had try-outs at afternoon practice and at the moment it was looking like they would be a man short if Hino, Nippori and Kaneko didn't get their act together.

"I think Hino-kun knows," Mizusawa's voice drifted from inside the clubroom. Yuuta was surprised anyone would be here as early as he was. About to open the door and step inside he froze when he heard Ryosuke's voice follow his.

"The kid is sharp. You said he found my necklace right?"

"Ah."

"He's not going to talk anyways. Besides that we have try-outs later today so we really don't have time to fuck around. We'll just talk to him together so he can focus on try-outs."

"Ah, that works."

They went silent, Yuuta taking it as the signal to enter. "Ohayou," he muttered.

"Ohayou, captain," Mizusawa smiled.

"You two are here early."

"Working on the full layout," Ryosuke told him. "We want it Nationals ready, even if only three of us can do it."

"Ah. One of which has his mind elsewhere, I plan to talk to the team this morning," Yuuta told them.

"We are going to go ahead to the gym and give you time to think," Mizusawa told him before the two departed closing the door behind them. Yuuta sighed leaning back against the couch and closing his eyes in thought. He wanted to be firm but not harsh. Something could seriously be bothering his teammates, something that consider him inconsiderate for getting on them about.

A jingling ring tone broke him from his thought. His eyes narrowed at the black phone sitting on the bench up by the lockers. Normally he was a curious person but he need the ringing to stop so he could think. Getting up he hopped up the stairs and picked up the phone, he immediately noticed it as Ryosuke's. He was going to put it up but the name on the screen stopped him. 'Mizusawa Taku'. Looking towards the door he wondered why Mizusawa would be texting their friend that had just left with him. Curiosity killed his internal cat and he flipped the phone open. 'Message for later. I owe you and I promised to try it.' A little heart followed the message. Yuuta found this odd. The cat lost it's second life as he scrolled up to the top of the conversation. He wanted to know if they were planning a technique or skill, planning to keep it secret until Worlds; if they made it. His eyes bulged out of his head, forcing him to re-read the first message to Mizusawa again. 'I want to throw you down on the table and drill you all night long like homework.'

That didn't seem like a message you would send to a friend. In fact it sounded sexual.

'I really doubt you drill homework all night long, Ryosuke.'

'Na, you're right. -smiley- I don't, but I would drill you.'

'I'm eating dinner and you're make me blush. -blushing smiley-'

'Haha, I like it when you blush. What are you having?'

'Um…seared sausage and pickled vegetables with noodles. Okaa-san only adds special spices to the sausage and cooks it in a wine, they are really good.'

'You like to suck on sausage?'

'I DIDN'T SAY THAT! Now my parents are wondering who I'm texting under the table that's making me blush so hard.'

'Tell 'em it's your new boy and you plan to suck his cock later.'

'Ryosuke, I'm not doing that…I…I've never tried oral sex, and it's…'

'We COULD try it sometime. I mean, well, I'm not going to force you.'

Yuuta had to stop reading, his internal cat was down to five lives by this point. Ryosuke and Mizusawa? How did that happen? How? Were they? Did they? That morning Yuuta's brain officially shut down.

-o-o-o-

"Everyone, even captain, is starting to shut down," Satoshi told his boyfriend.

"Shoko-sensei, can we push back try-outs till tomorrow morning," Kiyama requested politely. The woman looked both annoyed and angry at the sudden collapse of the boy's rhythmic gymnastics team.

"Tomorrow morning, and everyone better be prepared."

"They will," Satoshi promised.

"They're all idiots," Kiyama glared.

-o-o-o-

"Thanks for having dinner here, Natsuko-san," Ryosuke smiled.

"Ryosuke, don't hit on Azuma-san," Mizusawa scolded. "Especially when I'm right here."

Natsuko smiled at them. "Turns out the right person for you is another boy."

"Yeah, well I like him," Ryosuke winked, putting an arm around Mizusawa. "You sure Wataru won't be home?"

"He went to the movies, he wont be home till long after you are gone, no worries."

"Good," Ryosuke nodded, stealing a bit of omelet rice off of Mizusawa's plate. Natsuko watched the two with a large smile. She had always thought Ryosuke needed someone that liked him for more than sex. Dating Mizusawa worked very well for him, he could spoil the boy without him getting needy and clingy. The relationship was much more equal. She had no doubt in the back of her mind that their sexual compatibility was through the roof. Some men liked women that played 'dead fish' but Ryosuke seemed like the type to want a little fight. A boy was sure to give him just that.

Young love was fabulous. It didn't matter if that love was between a boy and girl, two boys, or two girls. She was happy Ryosuke had finally realized that. She chuckled lightly as the two leaned in sharing soft kisses between bites. Ryosuke really did like touching and kissing his lover. The light haired yankee leaned in nuzzling his boyfriend's neck before moving to his lips, nipping at them before actually kissing the other.

"TADAIMA!" Wataru yelled making the two jump apart. Natsuko rolled her eyes, subtle as a bull elephant her son was.

"Okaeri," she responded.

"Oi, Ryosuke. Mizusawa, whatcha guys doing here? Where's the rest of the team?"

"Why are you home early?" Natsuko asked.

"Movie was lame, had nothing better to do. So where is everyone else?"

"W-we came alone to talk about a new technique for Nationals," Mizusawa lied.

"Without Yuuta?"

"They're on a date," Natsuko told him gently.

"WHAT?" Wataru yelled with a laugh. "That's ridiculous, right, Ryosuke?"

The light haired boy averted his eyes from his best friend. Wataru looked between him and Mizusawa who was plainly wearing Ryosuke's necklace. "EH? He's your new girlfriend, er, boyfriend? Why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't want anyone to know," Mizusawa answered. "I didn't want people to think I was attracted to them because I liked Kiyama and now Ryosuke."

"What? No. You should have told me, I'd beat anyone up that would laugh at you. Come on, you should tell them."

"We can't, and you won't either, got it, Wataru? I don't want people to know about this, they spread rumors. Lets go to my house, Taku, it suddenly got crowded. Thank you for your hospitality, Natsuko-san."

-o-o-o-

"Ryosuke and Mizusawa are dating."

"EH?" the group yelled at Wataru's declaration. "You guys won't say shit to 'em or I'll kick your ass, got it?"

"You mean, you know, aniki?"

"Eh? You knew, Nippori?"

"Kaneko and I both, we got them making out in the gym and assumed they were dating," Nippori answered.

"But why doesn't anyone seemed surprised," Kaneko asked.

"I saw them cuddling at the faucets after I found sempai's necklace in Mizusawa-sempai's bag," Hino said.

"I happened upon disturbing texts between them," Yuuta muttered.

"They told us," Kiyama and Satoshi answered in unison.

"Look like you were the last one to know, Wataru," Kiyama said, arms crossed. The two boys of subject walked into the club room, all eyes on them.

"If we all knew then why didn't anyone say anything?" Wataru asked not seeing the two. Ryosuke didn't need to hear more to get what they had been talking about.

"You told them?"

Wataru jumped up. "Well thought it would be better to get it out in the open and all…"

"We were trying to protect them," the group said in odd unison.

"What?" Mizusawa asked. "You all knew but didn't say anything to protect us…"

"We didn't think you would want it advertised to the world," Nippori shrugged.

"So we promised not to tell the others, but they all found out on their own."

"So this is what's been on everyone's minds?" Yuuta questioned.

"You mean, we were the distraction?" Mizusawa asked, getting a nod from everyone.

"Fine, Taku and I are dating, got a problem with it I'll kick your ass. Give him a hard time, I'll kick your ass. Basically, I'll kick your ass for even whispering, got it?"

They laughed, agreeing to Ryosuke's terms. "Is this where the romantic kiss comes in," Satoshi asked. The group yelled no together bursting into another fit of laughter.

"Minna, let's get to try-outs," Yuuta yelled, following his friends out of the club room to the gym.

-chapter 7 owari-


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Mizusawa-kun," a couple of girls called, running up to the boy. "We are going to a water park after Nationals."

"As a celebration if we win," another teammate clarified.

"And we want to go shopping for really cute bathing suits."

"We were wondering if you would come with us and give your opinions."

Mizusawa smiled at them, not wanting to say it was a stereotype to think all gay men liked fashion. Unfortunately, in his case, he did KNOW what looked good on a women's body thanks to Ritsuko. "Um…sure, I guess I can help out."

"Oi, what's going on?" Ryosuke asked, throwing an arm over Mizusawa's shoulders.

"Mizusawa-kun is going to help us pick out bathing suits."

"We'll meet you at the mall at noon on Sunday," they smiled, walking away.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked his boyfriend. "Being gay is actually a chick magnet?"

"But Ryosuke, I don't have any interest in seeing them in bathing suits. That's kind of the point. I'm not going to gawk at them like a horny straight male," Mizusawa told him, jabbing him in the stomach playfully. They both jumped when Wataru wrapped his arms around both or them, sticking his head in between.

"Is it lover's secret whisper time?" he whispered conspiringly.

"If it was, you wouldn't be invited," Ryosuke glared, pushing Wataru away and throwing a possession arm over Mizusawa's shoulders.

"Tsumori. Mizusawa, Azuma, we're starting," Shoko sensei called over, the girls taking seats at the end of their mat. "Ashira-san and myself will be judging. She'll be judging on technical tumbling. We'll start with the arabesque held for five seconds."

"HAI!"

They got into position, Yuuta counting them off. Raising their right legs they stood in arabesque, silently counting it off.

"Azuma-kun, shakes slightly," Ashira whispered. "Kaneko-kun as well. Nippori-kun, seems to have the worst case of the shakes but his extension is very nice."

"Mizusawa, Hino, and Takenaka hold it the best, Tsukimori needs a bit more height on his arabesque."

"Stag handstands," Shoko called next. The boys laid out on their backs, rolling forward and upward to the stag handstand.

"Nippori-kun is obviously the most inexperienced," Shoko whispered.

"Mizusawa-kun needs slightly more arch in his, but the others look very steady and poised."

They rolled down, holding the ending position. "Groups of two, standing arabians," Shoko ordered. "Tsukimori. Hino, you two first." Both boys walked out, raising their arms. They counted off and jumped backwards, spinning through the air and landing hard on their feet.

"Technically perfect," Ashira nodded, making notes in her score sheet.

"Takenaka. Mizusawa."

The boys repeated the movement, earning high marks from Ashira and Shoko both. "No doubt, Ryosuke, Taku-kun, Tetsu-kun, and Yuu-kun will be on the National team," Ashira told the other woman. "All four are strong tumblers and the issues they have in the balance and dance portions can easily be rectified. It's much easier to clean those up then having to clean up tumbling."

"Azuma. Kiyama."

Faintly the boys realized Shoko was calling them by skill level and not at random, but none of them would voice it.

They raised their arms, jumping backwards in the same skill as the four previous boys. "Ryuichi-kun has no control on his landing, and Wata-kun needs to make his a bit tighter."

Shoko nodded. "Kaneko. Nippori."

The last two boys stepped onto the mat, extremely nervous. Raising their arms into the air they both jumped backwards, Kaneko landing on his feet, Nippori on his knees. The dark haired yankee hit the mat in anger, Wataru coming over and helping him back to the side.

"Atsushi-kun's rotation was much to slow and he didn't get fully around. Kei-kun's control was form was above Atsushi-kun's, but he closed his eyes and went blind making his landing falter. Fixing a blind landing may be easier to fix than control."

"I think we know which four are the easiest to perfect, as for the other two. The problem is they need Kiyama and Azuma for the reload."

"Not necessarily, Tetsuya-kun should be light enough that with a little strength training…"

The two women continued to whisper making the boys waiting to hear the verdict on edge. After five more minutes Shoko stood up, clearing her throat. "The six boys competing at Nationals are: Takenaka Yuuta, Hino Tetsuya, Mizusawa Taku, Azuma Wataru, Tsumori Ryosuke, and Nippori Keiji."

It took a moment for the shock to seep in that his name had been called. When it did Nippori screamed 'aniki' jumping on said boy in disbelief.

"Minna!" Ashira yelled, with a sadistic smirk akin to her offsprings. "Go home and rest up good. Don't worry about practice today because tomorrow, you boys are going to have lots and lots of fun. I'm going to turn you into Olympian precise gymnasts. So one day when men's rhythmic gymnastics is a represented you can make it."

-o-o-o-

"Ryosuke, your mom said we should rest, this isn't resting," Mizusawa protested, trying to stop his boyfriend's assault on his neck.

"We'll rest later, sex now.."

"I-I have to go home to-tonight, I can't stay. My parents will throw a fit."

"Go home after we're done, or you could just say 'fuck them' and let me fuck you all night."

"Ry-Ryosuke…o-once, As-Ashira-san promised hell training tomorrow. Training I'll probably need to walk for," he whimpered, unconsciously tilting his head to the side allowing Ryosuke more of his neck.

"One go, but you are mine after practice, got it?"

"Hai," he agreed, sealing their lips together.

-o-

"Taku, where were you?" Mizusawa-san asked, flicking the light on like in the movies.

"At my boyfriend's, we were hanging out."

"And is this where you have been several nights in a row? Sleeping over at this boy's house and doing kami-sama knows what?"

"I'm 18, otou-san, and I really like him, do you not expect our relationship to be more than emotional?"

"You're spending the night over there way to often. You broke up with Shogo-kun for this person did you not? Even have a sexual relationship with this person, yet we have not met him."

"Y-you can meet him, but Ryosuke isn't exactly the 'meet the parents' type of guy," Mizusawa blushed. It's not that he didn't want Ryosuke to meet his parents, he was just a hundred percent sure that his father would disapprove with one look.

"Tomorrow."

"To-Tomorrow? We have late practice, and then I was going to hang-out with friends after practice."

"You will not go to that boy's house anymore for whatever it is you do if we do not approve of him. Were you there to have sex with him tonight?" Mizusawa averted his father's gaze trying to will the blush from his face. "As I thought, clean yourself up and that boy will come over for dinner tomorrow or I forbid you to see him."

For a split second Mizusawa had the rebellious thought of 'you can't stop me from seeing him at school' but quickly pushed it away. "Hai, otou-san."

-o-o-o-

Wataru couldn't stop laughing and laughing and laughing. Eventually Ryosuke just punched his best friend in the arm who returned the favor. "Sorry, but you ain't the most respectable boy to bring home to meet the parents."

"Ch' I hate parents, why do they want to meet me anyways?"

"They said if they didn't meet you I wouldn't be allowed to come to your house anymore," Mizusawa answered, from where he lay on his boyfriend's chest. At the moment the entire boys team was on a bus to downtown Tokyo, their only knowledge of their destination being Ashira telling them 'the gym'. No one seemed to mind that Mizusawa was pretty much sprawling across Ryosuke, then again they were hardly staring either.

"Ohhhh, cock block," Wataru awed. "Kind of have to meet 'em now if you want to still get some ass."

"Don't push me or I'll fuck him right now."

"Don't!" Most everyone yelled in unison, Nippori pushing his aniki into his seat and telling him to stop pestering them.

"Look I'll do the meet the parents thing but they ain't going to approve of me."

"I don't expect them to," Mizusawa smiled, hugging Ryosuke around the waist tightly. "I approve of you and my opinion is all that matters."

"Awww…you two are sooo cute," Satoshi cooed, leaning against Kiyama subtly.

-o-o-

"Welcome to an elite gym, THE most elite gym in all of Tokyo," Ashira smiled.

"Flip your wrists to the beat," a man yelled to a girl in time, his hands clapping loudly. The girl in a pink leotard on the balance beam wavered slightly. "Square your hips, point your toes..point. This is not mediocre hour." The girl jumped backward in an arabian, her balance wavering. The man gave an annoyed cry. "Dismount." Pink leo did as she was told, throwing her hands into the air with her ending position. "That was fantastic for a level five. Do you have any interest in going to the Olympics at all, Maki? Your DOD has gone down by three points today, you'll be lucky to even make the top 15. Give me thirty laps around the gym, now, and then you will do the uneven bars."

"Hai, Mito-san," she nodded, taking off.

"Still so hard on them, Coach," Ashira called. The man turned, his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Tsukimori Ashira, ladies please note a prime example of when you want a 'life'. Why did your career end, Ashira? You decided to get knocked up, correct? No doubt that's the mistake that ruined your life," he said, turning a glare on Ryosuke.

"That would actually be Ryo-chan's brother. Ryo-chan here was born a few years later, my gymnastics would have been over anyways by the time Ryo-chan was born."

The man snorted. "What can I do for you? Please make my day."

"Actually, I was wondering if I could train these boys here for a bit. Their team advisor, Kashiwagi, will be here later."

"Ashira, Nationals are two weeks in Kyoto, you think I have time for bullshit level 1s? I have four gymnasts I plan to see into the National team and I can't have them distracted. Level one classes are at 3 pm every afternoon, you can train them then."

"Oi, where do you get off talking like that," Wataru yelled. The other boys, as usual, held the easily angered boy back.

"You," he pointed straight on Ryosuke. "Step forward."

Ryosuke did, his arms crossed.

"Back tuck."

"Excuse me?"

"Did I stutter? Standing back tuck, right now, 1..2.."

Ryosuke looked at him like the old man was demented before dropping his arm and jumping backwards in a tight back tuck.

"Forward," the man motioned forward with his hand. Ryosuke stepped up to him. "Standing arabian."

Rolling his eyes Ryosuke demonstrated the twisting style back tuck. "You," he pointed at Mizusawa. "The mat back there. Round off triple back, full layout."

Mizusawa nodded, going to the spring loaded mat. He bounced on it a few times before running forward and diving into the technique for the coach. He landed it with whispered applause from the girls standing around watching their coach assault the boys. "You," he pointed to Hino. "Round off triple back double full."

Hino walked to the mat and with a sigh demonstrated the technique at ease. Though it seemed the coach had yet had enough. "Red," he motioned to Wataru. "Round off double back twisting layout front tuck." Wataru took the challenge going to the mat and doing what the couch had said, unfortunately his rotation had been slightly off and did not get enough momentum as needed for the front tuck.

"As I thought, you have talent in these boys but some are lacking. You may use these facilities but those boys disturb my future Olympians and they are out, understand?"

"Hai, thank you Mito-san," she smiled, motioning for them to gather around. "Mito-san may be tough and a bit scary but he has taken many girls to the Olympics in the past 20 years. I'm sure you boys already noticed the mat is spring loaded. Your own mats are as well but not like that, with the spring mats you'll learn to propel yourselves higher. We'll also be working on balance and strength. This is a girls only gym so there is no boys equipment so we'll work with what we have." She motioned for them to follow her to a 4-inch piece of wood that was situated about a foot off the ground, if that. "You'll practice your stags here, you can perfect them here you can perfect them on the mat."

They looked at the wood warily. "You, Kei-kun, are going to be strength training first. You see those uneven bars over there. It's all about controlling your body weight, that's what you'll be doing today. Wata-kun, Atsushi-kun, and Ryuichi-kun, you'll be working on tumbling in that harness," she pointed to the harness wires hanging from the ceiling. "Taku-kun, Ryo-chan, Yuu-kun, and Tetsuya-kun, you four work on balance and don't go down until you collapse or I tell you."

The four boys stuck on the beam on their hands sighed, their legs in the stag position as Ashira-san had ordered. "I think I preferred the warehouse training," Yuuta sighed, feeling blood gradually rush to his head.

"Talking makes it worse," one of the girls walking by laughed.

The first minute for the four upside down went easily. The second minute wasn't to bad. The third minute was when the blood really started rushing to their heads. By the fifth they were starting to shake and waver. When the sixth minute rolled around all four were breathing heavily trying to keep the pose, though their arms were starting to give out. 10 seconds later Yuuta collided to the floor, rubbing his arms in pain. 5 seconds later both Mizusawa and Ryosuke fell, Hino lasted one more second than his sempai before the burn caused him to cave.

"Take a five minute break," Ashira laughed. "Get the feeling back into your arms." Together as a unit the boys stumbled over to the bench, taking heavy gulps of water with shaking arms. Mizusawa grimaced when his water bottle emptied to quickly. "I'll go refill the water bottles."

"I'll help you, Misusawa-sempai," Satoshi called, running over to his taller sempai. Ryosuke sighed, pulling his shirt over his head and wiping his sweat off his forehead. The reaction was instantaneous as girls swarmed. They introduced themselves, obviously flirting with the boy.

"I'm taken," he told them deadpanned. He wasn't stupid, these girls were probably 14, if that. Besides that he had Mizusawa and he was quite content with the boy.

"I know they're rather young," the girl in the pink leo, Maki, told him. "But I'm 16. How old are you?"

"18."

"Two years difference, and I like gymnasts. Well toned fit bodies and I saw your handstand, that's impressive."

"I'm taken," he repeated. He personally wasn't into gymnast chicks. For one, their parents were gymnastic Nazis from what he's seen. For two, small boobs. If he was going to date a girl he wanted actual boobs. If he wanted a flat chest, well he had his boyfriend for that. For three, this girl was not his type.

"I'm an elite gymnast, I know how to get what I want."

"And I'm taken," Ryosuke repeated, pulling his shirt back on. "Why not flirt with Kaneko or Kiyama, or Nippori."

She blinked. "Who?"

He pointed to the men, the girl grimacing except on Kiyama. With a shrug she walked over to the black haired yankee and began flirting with him. Kiyama glared at him and Ryosuke flashed him a 'v'. Satoshi and Mizusawa re-entered the gym, Mizusawa handing a refilled water bottle to his teammates and boyfriend. "What's Kiyama doing?"

"Flirting," Ryosuke shrugged. Satoshi's eyes widened and the boy had a sinking suspicious Ryosuke was trying to get back at him for calling them cute.

"Kiyama-sempai, I can't find my medication," Satoshi called. Kiyama being the caring boyfriend he is immediately ignored the girl and left the mat. Jogging up to his boyfriend he thanked the boy with a smile, touching his head affectionately.

At the end of the day the boys were ready to kill Ryosuke's mom for this. It was some kind of torture they just knew it. Mizusawa snuggled into his boyfriend, falling asleep against the other earning a coo from Wataru who choose to poke Ryosuke in the cheek. Ryosuke swatted the hand away, before stroking the light black locks of his boyfriend's hair.

-o-o-o-

"No," Mizusawa-san declared before Ryosuke even stepped through the door. "I should have known the moment I saw that 'skull cross bone' necklace you've been wearing like a prize. I don't approve of this boy."

"But I do," Taku said, inviting Ryosuke inside. "And you have to give him a chance, you promised."

"I told you I don't do well with parents. There's a reason I haven't had a serious relationship."

"You've been having relations with this boy? He doesn't look clean at all, you'll have some kind of STD by tomorrow."

"I've been sexually intimate with Ryosuke for a while, if I was going to get anything I would have already."

"Out!" Mizusawa-san yelled at the light haired yankee. "Out! Out! Out!"

"Anata," Taku's mother called, gently putting a hand on the man's arm. "You should never judge a person by appearance alone. Please, come in, Ryosuke-kun."

Taku nodded, and his boyfriend entered, toeing off his shoes in the doorway.

"We were about to have dinner. Taku's favorite Italian meal, fettuccine linguine with grilled chicken. It's a recipe I picked up when I visited Italy while pregnant with Taku," she smiled, motioning for her family to sit at the table. Mizusawa-san's eyes still hadn't left him.

"Are you a thug?" he asked bluntly.

"Was," Ryosuke admitted. "Left that life when I joined gymnastics. Stopped smoking, fighting, and all, but I ain't changing the way I dress. It's more comfortable than those damn gakuran."

"Do you always speak in such a manner?"

"Yeah. I don't see why I should speak in a formal manner. You may be my boyfriend's parents but it doesn't mean shit to me. Even if you don't like me it's Taku dating me not you. So either way this goes I'm staying with Taku until he tells me 'no'."

Mizusawa-san stared at the boy, eyes never moving. "Am I supposed to believe you didn't force him into sex?"

"I didn't force him to do shit. Rape isn't my thing. Half the fun of intimacy is having the other people participating. The other half is making the person scream and cling to you, begging for more. I like the sensitive ones."

Taku blushed at this, making his mother and sister giggle quietly behind their hands.

Picking up his fork Mizusawa-san began to eat his pasta. "You may date Taku. You're honest and blunt and do not bother to censor yourself. You're not going to hide anything or keep anything from us. I trust that type of personality. Your personality may be rough, but you have not hurt Taku yet, so I am willing to overlook your appearance and your past. But know this, I will not have my son involved in drugs or smoking."

"I don't do either. Kills the lungs and I kind of need those to do gymnastics."

Mizusawa-san nodded.

"Romantic kiss," Miyumi cooed, elbows on the table.

"Why does everyone ask that?" Taku sighed. With a shrug Ryosuke leaned over kissing Taku softly on the lips. Taku smiled largely at his boyfriend, the love struck teen look evident in his eyes.

"How sweet," Miyumi cooed again.

"Le-Let's just eat," Taku stuttered. "Itadaikimasu!"

-chapter 8 owari-


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

Ryosuke groaned, his hips jerking forward into the waiting wet orifice. His fingers tangled in messy black locks, almost tugging painfully. How was it the best blowjob he had ever had didn't come from a girl but from the inexperienced boy in front of him? Damn, when he had suggested this he thought it would be messy. He thought he would have to tell the boy what to do. No, none of that happened. Mizusawa knew exactly how to touch him, how to grip him, how to suck him. God it felt to damn good. "Taku," he groaned, thrusting up again as Mizusawa's mouth came down. "H-how are you s-so good at this?"

Mizusawa looked up at him, his innocent eyes betraying his actions. Pulling off with a small pop that made Ryosuke groan, he shrugged. "I'm a guy, so naturally I know how to touch a guy."

"Damn," Ryosuke husked. "More," he practically whimpered, pushing Mizusawa's head back down. Throwing his head back he basked in the wonderful pleasure of hard suction on his arousal. That teasing tongue running up and down him, soft teeth nipping at his head. "Cl-close," he gasped, meeting Mizusawa's mouth with upward thrusts. He slammed his eyes shot as he shot his load into his boyfriends mouth, the boy swallowing with a grimace.

"Doesn't taste as bad as alcohol," he laughed, wiping the corner of his mouth.

"Great. Now every time I see you all I'm going to think about is my cum running down your chin."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"With the already bulgy pants, YES!" Ryosuke glared, pulling his boyfriend onto the bed. "No sleep for you tonight, Taku-kun," he smirked, sliding down his boyfriend's body, to bestow his own kind of pleasure.

-o-o-o-

Ryosuke groaned, reaching around on his nightstand for the damn jiggling cellphone alarm. Finding the device and looking at the time it read he threw it across the room, silencing it immediately.

"You could have just hit the 'silence' button," Mizusawa grumbled sitting up.

"Phone dead, now sleep," Ryosuke mumbled, wrapping his boyfriend back into his arms.

"I have to get up, Ryosuke, remember I have to go to the mall today."

"Mall? No mall? Sleep," he responded, nuzzling Mizusawa's neck. Mizusawa sighed.

"Fine, I can get ten more minutes of sleep but then I really have to get up, alright?"

"No, stay and cuddle all morning."

"Have to go look at bathing suits with the girls from club."

"Eh?" Mizusawa rolled his eyes. Of course half naked girls got his boyfriend's attention. He wished he could date a completely gay guy that way they could be interested in the same half nude bodies. "Take pics while you're there."

"No, that's an evasion of privacy."

"Spoil sport," Ryosuke groaned, rolling over and going back to sleep. Climbing out of the bed Mizusawa got quickly dressed before making his way to the hell hole known as the mall.

-o-

"What about this one," the girl, Nami, asked doing a rotation in a one piece blue swimsuit.

"You would look better in a two piece, not saying go to bikini style but, your bodies are very nice so why not flaunt them a bit."

"Mizusawa-kun, what do you think," another girl, Machi, called over to him. He sighed and shook his head. What could he expect from gymnasts, they didn't realize they could make their assets better with a bit more.

"Do you mind if I touch you?" he asked politely. The girl smiled shaking her head. He wasn't going to touch her to cope a feel he was just doing it to help. Placing his hands under her breasts he instructed her on how a padded top could give her more lift and make her look like a B as opposes to an A. He blamed his sister for this. He was gay, he shouldn't know how to make breasts look better.

-o-

"Oi, Akabane, let's find a trash can to set on fire," a thug called, running about the mall. He stopped short upon seeing the cute girls trying on bathing suits. "Jackpot. Hey, wait! Akabane, don't we know that guy?"

The dark haired leader came up to the window to see the familiar face of one of Wataru's new friends.

"Didn't we beat that wimpy kid up?" another of the thugs laughed.

"Hey, what the hell, he feeling those girls up, big time!" another yelled. They all watched as the boy, who had his hands on a girl in a pink bikini's hips, slid his right hand downward before sliding a finger right at her bikini line. "Damn, he's got game, he's got to have like five girls in there."

"Oi, Akabane, how come you ain't got game like that?"

"He's getting two handfuls of tits. Man, I want girls to let me touch their tits."

"Ch' let's get the hell out of here. I can find better chicks than that," Akabane scoffed, motioning for them to follow.

-o-

"So, a bikini wax won't hurt to much, right? And I'm looking for something that rest right with my pelvis and accents my behind without showing to much is what you're saying."

"Exactly," he smiled. Again he cursed his sister. Maybe if he had a brother he wouldn't have turned out gay. On the flip side if he hadn't turned out gay he would have never met Ryosuke and that was a depressing thought.

One hour and thirty personal body questions later the five girls had picked their suits and decided to treat Mizusawa to lunch as thanks. He, however, didn't know lunch would also involve 'girl talk'. He had the urge to tell them he was still a boy, he just enjoyed sleeping with other boys.

"Cutest bod on the boy's team," Nami cooed over her strawberry milkshake, straw between her lips. "It's down to Kiyama and Ryosuke for me."

Machi shook her head. "Ryosuke and Wataru. I like tall boys."

The quiet girl across from him blushed before muttering. "Ryosuke-sempai and Yuuta-sempai."

Shino, next to her, laughed. "Seems we all favor Ryosuke, but I have to side with Nami and choose Kiyama as my second."

"Def Ryosuke," the last girl, Kari, chipped in. "And…hmmm…Tsuchiya is too shota-con, and Kaneko totally ruins it with the bald hair classes look. The hair ruins for me on Nippori…"

"We are talking bods, Kari, not overall looks," Machi laughed, throwing a fry at her friend.

"OH! Bods…so Ryosuke and Mizusawa-kun. I think you might have a hot bod under that tee," she winked. "Now you tell us who you think has the hottest bods, since you've actually got the three-sixty view."

"Eh? The-they're my teammates so I really shouldn't.."

"Come on, no one is going to tell," Nami coaxed.

"A-anou..Ryosuke and Kiyama..Captain a close third," he blushed.

"Next question!" Machi yelled, raising her head. "Who would you fuck?"

"Ryosuke," they chorused, laughing.

"I mean he just LOOKS like he would be good in bed," Kari purred. "I'd let him fuck me. I love guys with the natural sex hair."

"Mmmm and he's got those muscled arms, so you know it would be great to cuddle with him."

"Or have him pin you down to the mattress."

Mizusawa blushed, opting for saying nothing in this matter, and decided to eat his burger. He didn't really care for western food but they were paying so he might as well be polite.

"Who would you let fuck you, Mizusawa-kun? Ryosuke, too? But he's like uber straight so that wouldn't happen," Nami laughed, stirring her shake with the straw.

"I-I have a boyfriend," he answered.

"So, you can day dream," Nami smirked. "Come on, girl talk."

The words 'I'm not a girl' hung on the tip of his tongue.

"Is that your boyfriend's necklace?" Machi asked, motioning to the black chain barely visible as it was hidden under his shirt. "Let us see. You can always tell a guy by his jewelry."

Before he could stop them Nami had leaned over and pulled it free, eyeing with wide eyes. "This is.."

"Isn't that Ryosuke's?"

"Why do you have Ryosuke's necklace?"

"Did you steal it?"

"We-Well my boyfriend just texted me..u-umm…thanks for lunch but I re-really ne-need to.."

"Not till you answer our questions," Nami glared, closing her hand tightly around the black skull. "This is Ryosuke's, right?"

"H-Hai," he nodded.

"Did you steal it?" Shino asked.

"I-Iie…"

"Did you.."

"Ryosuke-sempai and Mizusawa-sempai are dating," the quiet girl spoke up making the four other girls look at her and then back at Mizusawa.

"How do you know?" Shino asked. The girl blushed bright red before averting her eyes.

"Oi, Mitamura," Nami yelled.

"Mitamura? Are you Mitamura-san's granddaughter? The one that lives next door?"

She nodded. "Ry-Ryosuke-sempai forgot to close his window one night that you were over and…I-I didn't me-mean to lo-look but…it w-was so gorgeous and hot…and…well…I…"

"EH? YOU'RE A VOYEUR!" the girls yelled, earning dirty looks for other customers.

"Nothing like that. I'm a writer, a yaoi writer, and when you see two boys that gorgeous doing that…the opportunity was to great to pass up. I assume you were dating since you are over there pretty much every night and leave every morning with Ryosuke-sempai. Also, on the other times Ashira-san opens Ryosuke-sempai's window to wake you up, I always see you two in bed together, SLEEPING! Nothing more.."

Nami clenched the necklace harder in her hand, before releasing it. "You should go, I bet Ryosuke is waiting for you."

Fearing the wrath of a jealous girl he stood up and left the café, going straight to his boyfriend's house. As he walked he realized suddenly why he was gay. Girls are damned catty.

-o-o-o-

He shouldn't have been surprised the next morning when all the girls in the gym were whispering about him and Ryosuke. Nami wanted Ryosuke and he had him, it was only logic that she would try to destroy them.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Wataru yelled at them, annoyed they were whispering about his best friend and friend/best friend's boyfriend.

Ryosuke came up and wrapped his arm around Mizusawa's shoulder, glaring at the girls. "Mizusawa Taku and I are dating, got a problem with it take it up with me. Say another damn word and I'll kick your ass, don't care if you are chicks. And if you don't shut the fuck up I'll tape our next session and we'll have a nice public screening so all of you get the point."

"NO!" the boys yelled at the same time a few girls yelled 'YES!'. Apparently when yaoi was involved Mitamura wasn't as quiet as she seemed. How was she friends with those other girls again? Right as Shoko was about to yell at them all to get back to practice Kashiwagi ran in, three folders plastered to his chest. He looked around the room, taking in the situation he had just apparently walked in on. "An-Anou, I need to speak with Mizusawa-kun, Ryousuke-kun, and Yuuta-kun out in the hall if that's alright, Shoko-sensei."

The woman's glare softened on her obvious crush before waving them off. At least with the two distractions gone they could get back to training for Nationals. She really wished they'd go back to harsh training with that old coach of Ashira's, at least then they were out of her hair.

-o-

"Y-you applied at the same university as me, Ryosuke?" Mizusawa asked, looking as Kashiwagi explained the packets.

"N-Not on purpose. I'm not one to choose a college because of a chick, or in this case, you. I just happened to like this university best and it's a coincidence you applied there," Ryosuke told his boyfriend, only half-lying.

"You'll need your finals scores to be a bit higher Ryosuke-kun but you still qualify for the scholarship onto the rhythmic gymnastics team. There will be three scouts at the National meet scoping out the applicants. If you impress them there you are sure to get in. So please work hard."

"Hey, didn't Wataru apply for this as well? I know he was saying going to university might be a good thing," Ryosuke pointed out.

"We-well I just received the three packets. All the credentials have to be right for this scholarship. Academic and all. Unfortunately, Azuma-kun's grades fall slightly short of what they are looking for. But don't mind. At Nationals give the judges and the representatives from the university your everything."

"Hai," they chorused, bowing to the man.

They re-entered the gym and had the hardest practice they could. Nationals was two days away. They need to jump higher, be precise, be synchronized. Everything needed to be perfect and not just for those vying for scholarships, but for the whole team to make it to Worlds. This was it. Time to defeat Washizu, once and for all.

-o-o-o-

They looked at the university gymnasium the shook of being at Nationals truly hitting them. "Please do not stand there gawking," Shoko ordered, ushering them inside. The girls split off from them going to stretch and work out in a separate area as the girls were always the first on the mats. The boys walked through the tunnel that led to the large open area where four mats were taped firmly to the ground. Yuuta took a steadying breath, Wataru wrapping an arm around the captain's shoulder ruffling his hair. "Talk about a big performance."

"Let's go take a seat and then go and stretch," Yuuta whispered, eyes still glued on those mats. They made to walk away a voice stopping them, or at least one of them.

"Taku? Mizusawa Taku?"

Mizusawa turned, surprised to see who stood behind him. "Eh? Hiro-kun?"

"It is you. Look at you, all grown up. Last time I saw you, you were majorly scrawny, you got buffed up in two years," the boy laughed. Mizusawa turned back to his teammates telling them he'd catch up to them. Ryosuke looked at the Hiro-kun for a moment before nodding and telling him to not take to long. "Mind if I hug you," Hiro-kun asked, before stepping forward and hugging Mizusawa. "You really got some muscles." The other teen licked his lips, not hiding the fact he was checking out his old friend.

"What are you doing here, Hiro-kun?"

"Are you kidding? Cute sweaty flexible boys? How could I pass that up?" he laughed. "I'm joking, Taku. Ritsu-chan dragged me along because her boyfriend is performing or whatever."

"Oh, Ritsuko-chan is here?"

"Yeah, she's up in her seat chatting with Tsurumi or Hikoko-kun as she calls him."

"Wait, Tsurumi Akihiko? She's dating Tsurumi Akihiko? From Washizu?"

"You know him?"

"He…He's our competition," Mizusawa answered. "And he..well..he outed me at a training camp."

"He outed you? You mean, you weren't out? I mean I came out right after that thing with us," Hiro-kun told him.

"Well I've been out to my parents but my teammates didn't know and I kind of didn't want them to know. But Tsurumi-kun outed me by telling them there was a 'homo' on the team. I didn't want them to know because I had a crush on one of them and…."

"Oh I got it, they're anti-gay?"

"Not really. Just it was a shock. But it's okay, since everyone is really accepting of me."

"That's great, Taku-kun," Hiro-kun smiled. "So, why are you here? Watching?"

"Performing actually, I did say Tsurumi-kun is our competition," he laughed.

"Oh, you did, didn't you? Then how about this? After this thing is over I take you out for a dinner? Tsurumi and Ritsuko will come along too."

"Ummm…sure. It will be nice to catch up," Mizusawa agreed.

"Great, I'll see you then."

"Wait, Hiroki, do you mind if I bring someone along? I want you to meet him."

"Sure, your friends are my friends," Hiroki smiled, before walking off to find his seat.

-o-o-o-

"Was that THE Hiroki?" Ryosuke asked, as Mizusawa recapped what happened.

"Yes, it's THAT Hiroki. Umemori Hiroki, the first boy….you know the rest."

"And you agreed to go on a date with him? You HAVE a boyfriend."

"It's not a date. Just a catch up with old friends, Ritsuko and her boyfriend are going to be there too."

"So it's a double date, come on, Taku. He was hitting on you."

"I asked him if you could come along and he said it was fine. I told him I wanted him to meet you," Mizusawa smiled, taking Ryosuke's hand. Ryosuke squeezed the hand in his.

"Did you tell him I'm your boyfriend or just a friend?"

"Oh? I just told him I had someone I wanted him to meet. He tells Ritsuko everything so I didn't want to tell him and then he tell Ritsuko and then she tells her boyfriend, who is Tsurumi Akihiko."

"You know Tsurumi's girlfriend," Yuuta asked.

"We tried dating, obviously it failed, but we are still really close friends. I promise Ryosuke, when I introduce you I'll introduce you as my boyfriend. I just didn't want anything to ruin today since we all know how Tsurumi-kun can be if he has information."

"Fine, but just so you know. If that guy looks at you the wrong way I'll knock his teeth in. A lot of situations with this guy hitting on you is going to lead to violence so don't shake your head."

"He doesn't think of me that way, Ryosuke, so you really have nothing to worry about. Also, as it's been pointed out, I have an affection for the bad boy type and Umemori Hiroki is definitely not the bad boy type."

"I can…"

"WERE YOU TWO JUST HOLDING HANDS?" Ryosuke and Mizusawa half-thought Nippori had just yelled at them, until they saw who he was pointing out. Satoshi raised his hand to his heart, making an excuse that loud accusation would accelerate his heart rate. "I-I saw it! You guy were holding hands. Fingers locked and everything like a couple."

Kiyama glared at him with an annoyed sigh, hoping he got the hint to shut his damn trap. When everyone wouldn't stop staring at them as if waiting for an answer he gave in and wrapped an arm around Satoshi's shoulder, pulling the boy to him. "I never said I wasn't bi. Leave it be."

"You mean there's FOUR gay guys on this team?"

"I'M NOT GAY!" Ryosuke yelled.

Kiyama sighed. "Satoshi and Mizusawa are the only two that are gay. I'm bi-sexual, I'm attracted to women as well as men. Now sit down and shut up, Nippori."

"Wait, so you find both tits and cock attractive," Wataru asked.

Kiyama closed his eyes, willing himself not to hit his friends. "Only guys that think with their dicks look at the physical body. While I find the body attractive in all it's forms, happy?"

"Can everyone please stop yelling? Ryuichiro-sempai and I are happy together just like Ryosuke-sempai and Mizusawa-sempai. That should be all that matters."

Wataru nodded. "If you like each other, then that's all. No one say another damn thing."

"Bu-but aniki.."

"Nippori, love is beautiful. So let's not ruin it, kay? Let's focus on the competition and not our teammate's sex lives."

"Thank you, Wataru," Kiyama nodded.

Wataru leaned over, close to Kiyama. "HAVE you guys had sex?"

Kiyama glared at him. "I'm not justifying that with an answer."

"Spoil sport."

-chapter 9 owari-


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Next on the mats, Boys Group Rhythmic Gymnastics," the loud booming voice of the announcer chimed. The three representatives from the university were not amused by how long they were prolonging this. They had five applicants in boys rhythmic gymnastics but this did not mean they wanted their time wasted. They were told that the two schools the applicants were from would be competing first and last. Washizu Academy was first as that was their standing coming out of Kanto and Karasumori Senior High would be performing last as they entered Nationals through a 'wild card' status. Basically, pure luck.

"On the mats, Washizu Academy. Shitonji Boys Academy on deck."

As Washizu performed the representatives had already given the two applicants of the academy their stamp of approval. They would make a fine edition to their rhythmic gymnastics and they only accepted the best. 18.700. They nodded their approval once again. A truly deserving score. It was only natural the next teams would not meet that standard. Shitonji fell sort with a score of 18.600 and the school after them knocked them down to third with a final score of 18.650. It was a close race and this was how Nationals was meant to be, no falling short. The fourth team that performed had an unfortunate fall during a stunt and ended with a score of 18.100. The fifth team stumbled on too advanced techniques. They had boys attempting a full layout and only making half the rotation, landing incorrectly. Honestly at this level they would be surprised if there were boys that could perform full layouts accurately. It was a higher level skill and it took much more stregth to pull off. They landed themselves in third with a 18.475. Karasumori Senior High was the last school to perform. They had heard rumors of this team and highly doubted they would get the score to qualify for Worlds, but they would keep their eyes on the applicants.

"Applicants for Karasumori are Takenaka Yuuta, Tsukimori Ryosuke, and Mizusawa Taku," the head informed the group, who flipped through the files with pictures of the boys.

"Tsukimori Ryosuke is the second son of gold medal Olympian, Tsukimori Ashira."

"So the boy possibly has talent."

"We'll just see."

The opening was strong and they would be ignorant to deny that the Mizusawa's extensions were flawless. Not only that but he worked incredibly well with his partner. The crowd around them cheered at the executed standing arabians which immediately earned the three applicants pluses from the reviewers. The eyed their breast extensions and arabesque with a critical eye before applauding at the prolonged hold. Lowering their legs the boys gave a well controlled back hand spring before using choreography to move into positions for tumbling passes. "Round off double back full," the head nodded approvingly of Yuuta's pass. They ignored the next two tumblers to keep their eyes on the next two who were vying for positions in their college. It was obvious the boys had a degree of trust between each other that allowed them to pull off such an overlay. "Round off double back full over a round off double back twist. Somersault with a forward standing arabaian, he is no doubt Tsukimori Ashira's son." They watched the last boy go before Mizusawa took off into a standing triple back full layout. "Wonderfully executed," they applauded. It seems the rumors they heard had held no water. "Perfectly balanced stags, strong yet graceful." They murmured in awe at the group tumbling pass. Quick succession triple back hand springs with a half rotation fall, one of the boys nearly faulted and they could tell he was the amateur of the group.

When the routine ended with a beautiful pose of striking elegance they were brought to their feet. It was clear the three boys were most definitely qualified to join their team. The boys walked off the mat gathering into a hurdle as the audience waited on bated breath to see who would take home the championship. "Karasumori Senior High…"

The crowd as well as the team cried in joy as the score 18.750 appeared on the board. Had the one boy not faulted in the group tumbling they would have come out much more ahead. As it was, they were the champions with Washizu close behind and both teams were deserving of going to the World Championship.

-o-o-o-

"Oh my gosh, Taku," Umemori Ritsuko yelled, glomping onto her old friend. "I never knew you were so talented. You never told me. When you said you joined rhythmic gymnastics I didn't imagine you to be this good. And look at you, you are all majorly buff now, just like Hiro said. You use to be so scrawny."

He laughed at her, patting her head of black curls that were pulled into pigtails. Her green eyes blinked up at him like she was much younger than her 18 years. "So, I get to take you out to dinner in celebration now, and Hiro said you were bringing a friend. Unless you want to celebrate with your team."

"Nah, take him," Wataru waved.

"We'll have plenty of time to celebrate later," Satoshi smiled.

"Wonderful," she smiled largely, grasping onto Mizusawa's arm. "Come on, the car is waiting," she said, pulling him along, Ryosuke following behind them with a wave to their friends. She dragged him to the parking lot to the black Toyota which was waiting at the curb, Hiroki behind the wheel. Urging them inside she ran around to the front, and jumped in. "Hikoko couldn't come along but I promised you'd get to meet later. So just us old friends and new. I'm Umemori Ritsuko," she smiled to Ryosuke.

"Tsukimori Ryosuke," he saluted.

"Saa..I'll call you Yosuke-kun."

"Don't," he blinked, not liking the nickname. Normally girls like her would be his type but for some odd reason she seemed so off putting. Maybe he really was turning gay. Then again he didn't find her brother attractive. The only thing he wanted from him is for him to stay away from Mizusawa.

"How about squishy then? Pooh bear? Kumo-chan? Neko-chan? Kaneko-chan?…"

"Do I look like an animal or a toy?"

"All boys look like toys to me, they are so easy to manipulate. 'Cept for the gay ones, ne, Taku-chan," she winked. He blushed, wanting to bury himself in Ryousuke's arms. He was grateful when his boyfriend seemed to read his mind and wrap his arms around him. In the back of his mind Mizusawa heard himself comment that maybe 'squishy' was a good nickname for him. "I knew it!" Ritsuko cheered. "I told you he'd bring his boyfriend. I TOLD you!"

Suddenly the atmosphere in the car got very dark and they couldn't get to the ramen shop fast enough. They took their seats at an empty table and ordered as a means to distract each other. "I-I guess I should properly introduce you guys. Um..Hiroki. Ritsuko. This is my boyfriend, Tsukimori Ryosuke. Ryosuke, I told you about Ritsu and Hiro before."

"Yeah, I remember," he nodded, putting a possessive arm around Mizusawa's shoulders.

Mizusawa chuckled nervously. This would not end well at all.

"Taku told you I was his first kiss? Well, real kiss anyways, since he's gay," Hiroki smirked.

"He told me how you pushed him down and started kissing him while he was dating your sister, yeah."

"He didn't pull back, he enjoyed it even. You can't rape the willing, Tsukimori-kun."

"Trust me, I know," he smirked back.

"Speaking of unforced sexual activities, have you done the….have you had sex yet, Taku?"

"M-my virginity is…non-existent," he whispered, making the girl squeal.

"How exciting! It's a big deal when a boy loses his virginity and this also proves you are really really gay because why else would you like having sex with guys?"

"Ritsuko…" he blushed.

"So, you have to tell me all about your first time. Do you remember who it was with? What did he look like? Was he tall? Dark? Pale? What?"

"An-anou…." Mizusawa looked at the man on his left, holding him close before looking down at the table.

"Of course, him, right? He was your first. No wonder he's so clingy. He's like a woman clingy to their first sexual love," Hiroki sneered.

"Hmph, I just want you to know Taku is mine. Stopping eyeing him like a piece of meat before I tear those eyes out."

"Ryosuke!"

"This guy is making me want a cigarette and I quit smoking."

"Oh? A smoker? You got yourself a winner there, Taku."

"Hiroki!" Mizusawa fretted.

"Leave it be, Taku," Ritsuko sang. "You have two guys fighting over you. Bask in the gift. Don't return it."

"But Ritsu-chan, I don't want boys fighting over me. Besides, Hiro-kun would lose."

"HA! You heard it yourself so back off bitch boy," Ryosuke gloated, wrapping Mizusawa in a tighter embrace.

"Ryosuke," Mizusawa blushed in a attempted berating tone.

-o-o-o-

Dinner couldn't end fast enough and Ryosuke wanted nothing more to take boyfriend to his house and prove his ownership of the boy. He was disappointed when Mizusawa told him he would walk home with Hiroki to talk in private with him. Neither one wanted a ride home with the boy.

"So you are going to that guy's house?"

"Yeah. We usually have sleep-overs. Since we started dating."

"Yeah, that's not a clear sign he's just with you for sex," Hiroki sighed, rolling his eyes.

"We don't always have sex, Hiroki, we just sleep together sometimes. I like being held while I sleep and Ryosuke is really a cuddly person despite his appearance and rough demeanor. I'm guessing you already figured out he's a yankee. But I like that about him."

"Just like? Not love? Taku, I could fall in love with you if we dated. Can you say the same thing about that boy?"

"Hiroki, I…"

-o-o-o-

"He asked you if you could fall in love with me," Ryosuke clarified as his boyfriend undressed down to his boxers. Mizusawa confirmed the conversation as he folded his clothes, placing them on a chair. Climbing into the bed he laid on his side, using his arm for support. "What did you tell him?" questioned Ryosuke.

"I-I told him…th-that..w-well..th.."

"What?"

"I..uh…I said I can't fall in love with someone I'm already in love with," he muttered, diving under the blanket to hide from his boyfriend. This really hadn't been the way he wanted to tell his boyfriend that he loved him. He wasn't ignorant and knew the love probably wouldn't last, but he knew he was in love with him, if even just for now.

Mizusawa stiffened in Ryosuke's arms as they slithered across his waist. "Ry-Ryosuke..?"

"Go to sleep."

"A-Are you angry?"

"…no..but I don't think I can say it back, yet. I don't want to say it and not mean it. I have before and only regretted it, so I won't say it until I'm a hundred percent sure I'm in love."

"At least you know that I love you, Ryosuke."

"Mm. Sleep now, Taku."

-o-o-o-

Kashiwagi ran up the stairs to the gym almost slipping twice. He was so excited. Who wouldn't be? The whole school would be excited if THREE of their students got full scholarships to the university they had applied to. "Yuuta-kun. Mizusawa-kun. Ryosuke-kun," he called to the three boys, hardly keeping his excitement in. The three looked at him before walking over to their excited advisor. He explained how the representatives had found them all extremely talented and wished to interview them in person and see a performance with team members of their current team. Their interviews/slashed auditions would be the next day during club activities in the Karasumori Gym. The other gymnastics practices would be cancelled for the day to hold the auditions.

When tomorrow came the entire gym was empty save for the three boys. The university representatives were the only other people in the room with them and watched them with critical eyes. "We saw your performance at Nationals and must say it was quite impressive. This assured us you boys know how to work as a team. Now we need to make sure you can perform as individuals. We will interview you separately and you will be required to perform the stunts we ask of you, understood?"

"Hai," they answered.

"First up, Takenaka Yuuta."

Ryosuke and Mizusawa wished him good luck before stepping out into the hall and taking seats against the wall.

"It would be nice if we got into the same university. Captain and us, but I would miss the others," Mizusawa said quietly, staring up at the ceiling

"Even then we won't stop being friends. We'll always be friends with everyone. Wataru would kick my ass otherwise."

"How about us after graduation? Are we still going to date or…..I mean there will be a lot of new opportunities in university."

"You want to break up with me, find a new guy," Ryosuke glared.

"I-Iie. I told you that..I..I love you, and I mean that. It's just there will be so many girls and I know you really like girls and all so it's just that's what I meant," Mizusawa stuttered, wringing his jersey. Ryosuke took his hand, squeezing it lightly.

"Don't care, I'll be with you for as long as you'll put up with me, got it?"

Mizusawa smiled. "HAI!"

The doors opened, Yuuta stepping out and nodding to them. The man from before looked out the door. "Tsukimori Ryosuke," he called. Ryosuke got up, getting 'good luck' from his captain and boyfriend. Not even ten minutes later he exited telling Mizusawa he was next and they were waiting. Kissing his boyfriend for luck Mizusawa smiled in thanks before entering, the door slamming ominously loud in the empty gym.

He stepped onto the mat, taking a deep breath he turned to look at the five fierce looking people.

"Mizusawa Taku, 3rd year," the woman at the end of the table muttered, reiterating information they all already knew.

The man in the middle, a stout graying man, looked at him. "You will do all we instruct you is that understood?" Mizusawa nodded, waiting for the first order.

"Standing back tuck," the woman on the end smiled, starting him off easy. He took a breath before jumping backwards, knees pulled to his chest. Landing on his feet his arms went up in straight hard lines. "Standing arabian," she ordered. Again he did the move with question, putting his arms in the air with the finish. She looked at her paper, writing rapidly as the next person to her left looked him over.

"Triple back full."

Walking forward to allow himself more room Mizusawa swung his arms forward before jumping backwards into the hand springs. His body arched back into the arch for the back flip, his feet hitting a second later to the mat with a thud.

" Round off triple back full layout."

Mizusawa walked to the edge of the mat, getting a running start before completing the move as instructed. He would be lying if he said the judges didn't shake him a bit. Their voices were monotonous and unrelenting as they told him stunts to perform. In the back or his mind-the rebellious bit via Ryosuke-he thought, 'I wonder if these judges can do all this stuff or they just wish they could'.

"It seems Karasumori High School has much more talented gymnasts then we were led to believe."

"Even Gold Medalist's Tsukimori Ashira's son attends this school, and he was quite talented. Obviously has the potential to be a champion like his mother."

"But this is not about Tsukimori Ryosuke, this is about you, Mizusawa Taku. You're quite talented. You have good strength and controlled tumbling. Your speed needs work, if you up the speed of your hand springs you'll be able to propel yourself higher into fuller twists."

"Mizusawa-kun, what are your stand points on dating," the woman at the end asked, hands folded in front of her face.

"Dating? Well as long as it does not become a distraction to a person's gymnastics I see nothing wrong with it. Besides that I have not let it distract me, though me and my b-lover have only been dating for a bit over a month."

"I find dating to be superfluous. You will NOT become an elite gymnast with a woman holding you back. We do not tolerate dating and there is a strict no dating rule. Our boys live in dorms and girls are strictly forbidden."

He gave the judges a small smile. "I assure you girls will be no trouble for me."

"That also means if you are accepted you are not to sneak your girlfriend into our school is that understood? Any condoms, lubrication, sex toys, etc. will be immediate grounds for expulsion. Understood?"

He nodded.

"Are you sexually active?"

The judges looked at the woman on the end, wondering why she was being so snoopy into a candidate's personal life.

"Yes, ma'am. I am."

"Hmph. Well lets hope she doesn't end up pregnant."

"That would be quite impossible."

"Nothing is impossible boy. Even with all the proper precautions. It takes one sperm and one egg. That's it."

"It's impossible as I've never had sex with a woman," he blushed.

"Never had sex with a…" her eyes narrowed. "I see."

The man in the middle, the leader, dismissed him to the hallway, saying they would tell their decision shortly. Mizusawa nodded, leaving the room as quickly as possible.

"No," the woman on the end declared. "It's not right to have a faggot on our team. It will make the other boys uncomfortable."

"Oh stop!" the younger woman at the end of the table sighed. "You are just being critical because of the mistakes your own son's made. First the eldest gets some girl pregnant at 16 and runs off and has never spoke to you again and the youngest just came out as gay. You're projecting your own anger on to these boys."

"I honestly doubt that all the boys on our team are straight, but this is not our concern," the leader spoke, gaining nods of agreement. "The scholarships are based on talent NOT sexuality. We have five schloarships to offer and all five boys seem more than qualified to earn them."

"Tsukimori's grades are a bother though," the man to his right spoke. "His status will stay as pending until he passes an entrance exam, but the others have scores that well qualify them and if they score well on their Senior High exit exams we can bypass the entrance exams. Tsukimori would need to score in the top five to bypass entrance exams which I do not see currently happening."

"Shall we call them back in then?"

They nodded, the youngest woman getting up and calling them back inside. Clearing his throat the head spoke up. "Pending exit exams scores, Mizusawa Taku and Takenaka Yuuta will receive full scholarships to our university, as long as they remain on the rhythmic gymnastics team. Pending exit exams from Senior High and entrance exam score, Tsukimori Ryosuke will be offered full acceptance upon passing."

"We have a three day program for scholarship students starting Sunday morning and ending Thursday, early morning. With permission from teachers and parents you will spend three days on our campus and practice with our rhythmic gymnastics team."

"With that we welcome you to the Teito University Rhythmic Gymnastics team," the young woman smiled. The three boys bowed in thanks, broad smiles on their faces.

-chapter 10 owari-


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"I'm Kiriyama Yoshiro, I'll be your roommate for the next three days," the tall black haired man smiled, his hazel eyes smiling with him. Mizusawa looked him over, gulping uncomfortably. He was attractive, no doubt about it. Shoulder length straight black hair, that swiped lightly across his forehead. Well built body with just enough muscle to make someone feel protected not crushed. "Are you checking me out, Mizusawa-kun?"

"I-Iie," he blushed, turning to look at his bed for the camp. Truth was, he was checking him out. If Ryosuke could look at what he deemed 'cute girls' why couldn't he look at 'cute guys'.

"I don't mind. Like cute ukes checking me out," Kiriyama practically purred, wrapping his arms around Mizusawa from behind, making the boy stiffen. "You taken? We could have some fun in the next few days. I haven't had fun in a while."

His mind clouded over with that haze akin to lust at the hard body pressing against his own. Kiriyama's hips rolling into him just made him want to moan. Inwardly he berated himself as his body betrayed him and pushed back whimpering in want. "Se-sempai…I.."

"Obviously only been with one guy," he husked, running a hand under Mizusawa's shirt, making the boy stiffen again. "You're probably in love with him, or think you are. I remember that's how I was. But Mizusawa-kun, I can show you how much fun there is to be had."

"M-My bo-boyfriend…" Silently he pleaded for Ryosuke to burst through the door to stop this madness. To stop his body for giving in to it's wants. "St-stop, o-onegai…"

Kiriyama immediately stepped away, Mizusawa falling to the bed. "I won't force you. I don't like making guys cheat when they don't want to. But you know, if you get curious, I'm your 'big brother' for the weak, anything you want I'll give you. I'll even eat you out or suck you off. I love hearing uke's whimper when they're tongue fucked, it's hot."

Mizusawa blinked in disbelief. He has just met this person and yet, THIS was happening. They didn't know each other so how, how could he….

"You're all flustered. It's called lust at first sight, and I'm glad my 'baby brother' is gay this year. I usually get stuck with the homophobic straight ones that won't listen to me for shit."

"Sempai…"

"But now I have you this year, should be fun, a lot can happen in three days, Mizusawa-kun, you'll learn that the hard way. Pun very much intended," Kiriyama winked. "You're uniform is in the wardrobe, get dressed and I'll take you to the gym." The older male left the room, with a quiet close of the door. Mizusawa was just about to undress when the door opening again made him jump, he was relieved to see his boyfriend walk. Without thought he walked up to Ryosuke, kissing him hard, not caring if Kiriyama saw or not.

Ryosuke eagerly responded, wrapping his arm around Mizusawa's waist, pulling him closer. Kiriyama watched them with a raised eyebrow before giving a whistle breaking the two apart. "You've got five minutes to change Mizusawa-kun, hurry up."

"I love you," he whispered to Ryosuke, not wanting Ryosuke to let go of him. Maybe coming to this camp was not a good idea for him. Then again, he was here to practice with his future team, he didn't know his 'big brother' would be gay or be instantly attracted to him.

"Taku, you okay? Did that guy do something? Do I need to kick his ass?"

"I-Iie, Ryosuke. It's nothing, I just wanted to say I love you, that's it," Mizusawa smiled to cover his lie before stepping back and going to the wardrobe to change.

-o-o-o-

"Gentlemen, looks like we have new inductees," Kiriyama announced. Just Mizusawa's luck that Kiriyama was the new RG captain. This was getting worse by the second. "Five of them. We'll show them a proper Teito University welcome, starting with rope climbs," he smirked, pointing to the five ropes behind him. "Climb on up using your arms only, make sure your feet don't touch or you'll be doing it again. Five times to start."

The five boys walked to the ropes, looking at the 15 feet high twine. "Pure upper body strength," Yuuta sighed.

"Can't do it," Tsurumi taunted, wiping his hands with chalk.

"Talking gets you up the rope no faster," Kiriyama taunted. The five boys nodded, grabbing onto the rope and climbing, making sure their feet did not touch it. It took them a full ten minutes to reach the top before the climbed back down, their arms pulsing in pain.

"Stick your legs out straight, like you are sitting on a chair, it helps," Tsurumi's 'big brother' Takada suggested. "Captain isn't going to let you go till you complete four more. So I would get climbing if I were you."

They simultaneously yelled 'hai' as if to raise their spirits and began climbing for the second time. 15 feet had never seemed so high till you had to climb it carrying your own body weight. By the time they finished the fifth rep they were dead tired and reading to take a rest, even Tsurumi and Mido from Washizu were dying from this exercise.

"Your arms are tired, now let's make your legs tired. Fifty laps around the track," he pointed to the upstairs running track that ran the length of the gym. They again called hai before climbing the stairs and taking off into runs. Their breathing picked up quickly and their legs seem to give out much quicker than they thought.

"40 laps to go," Takada called. EH? They had only run ten laps. That was impossible.

They continued to run. Lap. After lap. After lap, until they collapsed, dead exhausted after fifty laps.

"You boys tired," Kiriyama smirked, kneeling down to them and placing his hand almost inappropriately on Mizusawa's thigh. Neither Mizusawa or Ryosuke noticed as they were to worn out to comprehend anything at the moment. They nodded, hopping for a rest. "Get a quick drink of water, you have 60 seconds, then to the mat on the left. We'll start with 10 laps back hand springs. You start at one end and back hand spring to the other. Turn and repeat to the starting point, that's one lap. Got it?" he smirked.

This demon was going to kill them.

-o-o-o-

Mizusawa looked over at his captain/big brother who wouldn't stop laughing. Why was this so damn funny? His whole body was convulsing in pain from head to toes, and it was only three o'clock. "That is our everyday warm up. At least in the mornings, that's our warm-up, we run through our routine than go to classes. Afternoon, we stretch, and work on perfecting tumbling, etc. etc. This isn't Senior High anymore, this is precision university level rhythmic gymnastics, the faster you boys learn that the better. The pain will get better. Go ahead and take a nap, I'll wake you for dinner, alright?"

"Yeah, that's Kiriyama-sempai."

"Not a prob," he smiled, flicking off the light.

-o-

Mizusawa tossed in his bed, rolling over to see the room now completely dark, no light shining through the window. The clock on Kiriyama's night stand showed it was just past 18:00, meaning dinner was in thirty minutes.

"Nnh…Shiro-buchou," a voice moaned from, what seemed to be, the ensuite bathroom. Mizusawa blushed as he realized that moan could only be from one act. Getting up from the bed he decided it best to just sneak out of the room and leave his 'big brother' and whatever guy to their business. "Ki-kimochi," the voice moaned in a whimpering fashion. Faintly Mizusawa realized he had heard that voice somewhere and tried to place it. This led his feet to walk towards the bathroom and his eyes to peer inside. His suspicion was confirmed when he caught site of the brown haired, green eyed male that is Tsurumi's 'big brother'.

Takada was on the counter, his legs spread, back pressing against the mirror. His hand was thread through Kiriyama's black hair, holding him in place, his hips rolling to meet Kiriyama's mouth. The boy moaned out, begging for more. For deeper and Mizusawa's could feel his body reacting to the sensuous sight. This was what he wanted Ryosuke to do to him, but Ryosuke was still hesitant because he felt he would become fully gay if he performed oral on his boyfriend. "Fuck me, buchou, please, fuck me…." Takada begged.

Mizusawa turned away when Kiriyama indeed stood up, lining himself at the entrance of his teammate. When the familiar whimpering scream of penetration met his ears, he tore from the room afraid to hear or see more lest his body go into overload.

-o-

"Where's buchou and Takada," a teammate asked looking about.

"You know them, probably off fucking each other somewhere. Takada is buchou's bitch after all."

"Ain't that the truth," another boy laughed. "Buchou barks and Takada spreads his legs. Honestly, I don't get them. Weren't they dating? Why'd they break up if they were going to continue fucking each other?"

"Who knows? But from what I hear, Takada's first love was buchou, they went to the same Junior High or something. Didn't work out because Buchou wanted to fuck more than just Takada. Apparently, they went to separate Senior Highs met up here and decided to be fuck buddies, without actually dating."

Another boy pointed his chopsticks at the group. "Basically, buchou wants more ass than just one, Takada is in love with buchou and will let him do as they please."

Mizusawa looked at the teammates that seem to be so accepting and knowledgeable about their friends. The Kara High team was close but not this close to know each other's histories to a T.

The boys leaned in, whispering amongst themselves to where the rookies couldn't hear.

"Mizusawa is going to be buchou's next target. You know it!"

"Oh yeah, from what I heard from the baba, he's gay and she was eager to deny him on that but was overruled by Coach."

"Buchou can't resist a gay rookie, he does this every time one catches his eyes. You can already tell Mizusawa has his attention. Did you see how he was 'helping' him yesterday?"

"Yeah, more like coping a feel. Damn I wish we had girls that worked out in our gym. Maybe I could 'train' them."

"You so would," they laughed, throwing rice at the male.

"Either way, buchou will fuck him before the end of camp, we all know it."

"Yeah, no doubt about it."

-o-o-o-

"Same warm-up as yesterday boys," Kiriyama smirked, pointing to the ropes. The five walked over to the ropes and immediately began climbing.

"Can't believe I have to put up with this crap," Tsurumi sighed, as they climbed. "My 'aniki' is a flamer for the buchou. He didn't come back for dinner and he was limping when he came into the room."

"Means he got thoroughly fucked," Ryosuke smirked, groaning slightly in pain.

"Minna, can we just do our warm-ups so we can actually participate today?" Yuuta asked.

"You sticking up for the homo on your team, Tsukimori," Tsurumi taunted.

"And if I am?"

"Maybe you've turned homo yourself…itai," Tsurumi called as he was yanked form the rope by the captain.

"Hello, Tsurumi-kun, in this gym we practice tolerance, or a lovely thing the americans came up with 'don't ask don't tell'. Also, derogatory language is not accepted in my gym, understood? You'll add two more climbs and twenty laps for punishment. Tsukimori, 10 extra laps for profanity," he ordered, walking off to monitor his team's tumbling.

Today, they actually completely finished their warm-ups with two whole hours of practice to spare, the previous day they had only had an hour and had been made to watch. It was an accomplishment. The team of 20 stood on the mat staring at their captain. "Group deer handstands, rookies too."

"Hai," was the yelled response as they moved into positioning. Falling back they rolled forward, lifting up into the hand stand. Kiriyama walked through the group, inspecting them.

"Point your toes just a bit," he instructed one male, the male correcting himself. "Mizusawa-kun, arch a little more so you're not completely straight, that puts to much tension on your arms." He walked on, a loud thud making the rookies want to look.

"Don't look," Yuuta's 'aniki' ordered in a hiss.

"Get your ass off my mat if you can't even do a proper hand stand. Twenty laps around the gym, then ten minute handstand against the wall. This isn't amateur hour, get your head here not on a pair of tits, got me?"

"Hai, buchou!" the man yelled, jogging off to the stairs.

"Roll out, turn to arabesque," Kiriyama ordered. The group did as told, raising their legs back in graceful display. Kiriyama immediately went into sadist mood knocking three boys down by sweeping their legs. "Do you three need to take ballet lessons? I'm sure the ballet club would be more than happy to assist you," he sneered. "Twenty laps, then you can work on your balance in the next gym over."

"Hai, buchou," the called dejectedly.

"Tsukimori, straighten your back. Takenaka, point your toes a bit more. Tsurumi, lose the attitude before I knock your ass out, stare straight ahead and lose the glare. Mizusawa, very nice extension," he commented, walking past the boy, running a playful hand over the boys thigh in an inappropriate gesture, making the 3rd year Senior high student waver. "Drop. Breast extensions, hold the lunge," Kiriyama ordered.

Once again the order was followed by more thuds of mediocrity. He was kinder to the rookies and corrected them where need be. They had gone from 20 males on the mat to 14, and they feared what came next. "Slide into the splits."

The 14 boys did, Kiriyama reigning his terror. "I don't care if it hurts your balls, you go down to the floor. Off my mat."

And it continued till 11 boys were left on the mat, a six man team and the five rookies.

"No more mister nice guy, rooks. We're to tumbling instruction now, I've been kind thus far. I don't like your form I kick you off the mat, understood?"

"Hai!"

"Back hand spring."

The 11 boys jumped backwards, throwing their arms up in an ending pose. "You from Washizu, off! Ten laps, hand stands against the wall, keep your knees together." The boy nodded, jogging to the stairs.

"Arabian."

They jumped backwards spinning their bodies in the spinning tuck. "You, Takenaka, off. 10 laps, balance practice in the next gym over, your aniki will assist you." Yuuta gave a 'hai' going over to the next gym over, his aniki instructing him on what he would be doing. "Double back hand spring back tuck."

The mat thudded as the group jumped backwards, flying through the air with ease. "Mizusawa," Kiriyama beckoned. The boy walked forward, his aniki throwing an arm around his shoulders. "I notice you have a bit of a bounce issue and your landings tend to be a bit shaky. I want you to go into the other room and you'll see a balance beam. See we learned a nifty little trick thanks to the girls gymnastics teams, if you can pull this skills on a 4 inch piece of word, you can pull them perfectly off of it. If you fall off, you know you're not balanced right and your control is off, got it? Go work on that."

"Hai, buchou."

"Layouts are next, line up on the line," Kiriyama ordered as Mizusawa disappeared into the next gym over. His eyes widened at the array of equipment the gym held. Most of it was from regular gymnastics, rings, parallel bars, balance beam, vault, but they seemed to use it for their own training. They also had a full weight set and other exercise machines. It was a heaven for any gymnast.

"Buchou sent you for what?"

"He told me to practice skills on the beam?" Mizusawa told his sempai. The sempai nodded walking over to the tall four inch piece of wood.

"Standing on the side, place hands on the beam and lift yourself into a handstand," he instructed, demonstrating. "Once you're up, just do your skills," he added, standing to his feet and doing a back hand spring on the tiny plank. "See? Easy?' he smiled, hoping down. "If you fall, get back up and try again. Have fun."

Mizusawa looked at the beam, staring it down before hoping up onto.

-o-

"Six left, two being rookies, I'm surprised I haven't kicked your asses out for more training yet," Kiriyama smirked. "Well I guess natural talent is a big help, is it not? Tsukimori Ryosuke. You have a legacy to uphold. Let's teach them the choreography then, you can teach it to the other rookies later. We start on our knees, casting our left leg out and sweeping back to three, bring up with the arms…" Kiriyama explained, showing them the motions, while speaking to a beat.

He immediately thrust them in, correcting them as they went along. It was no doubt that they wanted grace and precision even in the dancing. "Taka-chan, take Tsukimori aside. Work with him on the extensions of his arms and leg movements stronger."

"Hai, buchou," Takada smiled, pulling Ryosuke aside to the spare mat and running him through the choreography. Ryosuke followed, Takada correcting him as he went. "You're dating, Mizusawa-kun, right? Stiffen your arms," he said, making small talk as he corrected his kouhai.

"Your point? How did you even know?"

"Shiro-buchou told me, said Mizusawa-kun told you he loves you."

"Yeah, again, your point?"

"Do you love him? Push your leg back further, keep it tense."

Ryosuke did as told, glaring at the wall. "Why is that your business?"

"Mizusawa is Shiro's next target. I'm not stupid, I dated him, I know him. Mizusawa, he's like me when I was younger. I was really REALLY in love with Shiro, but he didn't love me back, at least he never said it. Shiro…Shiro is like a tiger and Mizusawa is the meat. He's going to try to seduce him and lure him into sex, if he hasn't already."

Ryosuke glared. "Like hell he is! Taku loves me…."

"I pose the question, again, do you him though?"

-o-o-o-

"Come on, Mizusawa-kun, have some fun," Kiriyama coaxed.

"Last time I heard that, I ended up having a drunk one night stand, which actually turned into a relationship but besides the point."

Kiriyama laughed, pinning the boy to the bed, hovering over him. "So what's another one night stand? You're so cute and I won't hurt you, I can only promise pleasure."

"P-Please, st-stop," Mizusawa whimpered, actually like the feel of Kiriyama's body over his. He didn't understand it but he felt around this man what he felt around Ryosuke. Except this wasn't Ryosuke, and there was an extra dangerous air around Ryosuke.

"One kiss, if you want me to stop after that, I will, but I doubt you'll want to stop." Leaning down he pressed his lips to Mizusawa's, who did nothing but lay there with his lips closed. Kiriyama became more persistent, lapping at Mizusawa's lips, trying to force his mouth open. Mizusawa did seem like the type of uke that would like to be forced a bit, seeing as he was dating an obvious yankee.

Finally, Mizusawa could not hold out any longer and his mouth opened with a small gasp. Without hesitation Kiriyama thrust his tongue in, swirling it around the younger boy's.

Mizusawa's mind shot an alarm off momentarily before surrendering, wrapping his arms around Kiriyama's neck and kissing back. They kissed the same, Kiriyama and Ryosuke, only Ryosuke's kiss held fire and passion. Kiriyama's held want and desperation.

Slowly Kiriyama's hand crept under his shirt, upwards towards an aroused nipple, flicking the bud softly making the boy beneath him moan in want. His other hand curled gently into Mizusawa's hair, tilting his head slightly to kiss him deeper, their hips rolling together with delightful friction making both boys hard with desire.

Suddenly the desire was gone as Kiriyama was literally ripped off Mizusawa and thrown to the wall with a hard punch to the eye. An enraged Ryosuke kicked the downed captain, his hands in his pockets like this was nothing knew to him. He pulled his previously used right hand from his pocket, now donning a thick skull ring. Rearing back he intended to punch the elder boy again only to be held back by his boyfriend and friend, both yelling for him to stop.

"Na, let him," Kiriyama smirked, spitting out a bit of blood. "He's naïve, young, and stupid. Mizusawa thinks he's in love with you, but I know how that game goes. You don't love him, he's a good fuck. Totally different then those girls you were fucking before. They played 'dead fish' while he fights you back and plays with you. He's never slept with anyone else so he's tight, fitted perfectly to you and you love it. You love his body not him."

Takada looked at his ex-lover and current sex partner in disbelief. He had entered the room with Yuuta to try and stop the enraged yankee.

"The fuck you know? You don't shit about me or Taku," Ryosuke yelled, fighting against the people holding him back.

"The fuck I know? Kid, I WAS you! Man I had it good, I was fucking chicks like crazy and this was junior high and then I meet this fucking queer brat that has a thing for me so I fucked him too and damn it was good. Good enough to turn me gay but I didn't love him. I loved the idea of loving him. I loved his body but I didn't love him. That's how I know. I was a yankee too and by Senior High I was fucking any guy I could get my hands on. As soon as you wake up, you realize you don't love him, you just want him because he's different."

"Fuck you! Would I be this fucking pissed off if I didn't love him? Would I want to tear your head off because of lust? You may have thought of Takada like a trophy or possession of whatever the fuck it was but I'm NOT you."

Mizusawa blinked, his hold loosening ever so slightly. "Y-You…Ryosuke, you love me?"

"Of course I love you, you idiot. Fuck!"

"Ry-Ryosuke…" He didn't know what to say. All words had died on his lips, all he could think to do was grab his boyfriend and kiss him. Ryosuke immediately took hold of the boy, kissing him back with all he had, ignoring the salt water pouring from Mizusawa's eyes. "I'm so sorry, Ryosuke, I didn't mean…it was…"

"I'm not pissed at you, but I've lost all respect for that bastard. Come on, you'll come sleep with me tonight," Ryosuke sighed, wrapping an arm around Mizusawa's shoulders and leading him out. Yuuta followed behind them, apologizing on the way out.

Takada looked at the downed captain, contemplating whether to help him or not. "You were wrong, Yoshiro. I was in love you, but that's not why I slept you. I was using you the whole time. A guy from a rival gang wanted to destroy you, I knew him before I met you and I had sex with him before you. He wanted to destroy your reputation before you entered Senior High, so he asked me to seduce you, then destroy you. I didn't realize I loved you, till I saw you two years ago, here. In Junior High, I wasn't the one in love, you were."

With that Takada turned on his heel and left the room with a quite click of the door.

-chapter 11 owari-


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Ryosuke."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Just once."

"You heard it twice, so no."

"Ryo-chan, pretty please?"

"Don't pull the puppy eyes on me for kami-sama's sake. You are going to drive me to cigarettes again. I said it twice I ain't saying it again."

"Please, one more time," Mizusawa husked, nipping at his boyfriend's ear piercing. If it was one weakness Ryosuke had it was his piercing and sucking on the sensitive skin always made him cave.

Throwing the boy to the bed Ryosuke climbed over him, kissing him softly before kissing a trail to his ear. Nipping at the lob he whispered. "I love you, Taku."

"I love you, too, squishy," Mizusawa laughed, gaining an irritated twitch from his boyfriend.

"You are so getting it now, Taku," he growled, rolling the boy over to this stomach and pouncing.

-o-o-o-

"High knee, high fucking knees. Tuck your knees in tighter. Damnit, arch your back," Kiriyama yelled, stomping around the gym, his black eye prominent. "Mizusawa, two feet hit the beam, TWO! Not one and the other slide off. If you can't do those moves on beam you can't do them on the floor, got it? What the hell was that?" he yelled to a member on the mat practicing layouts. "One and half fall you idiot, not full twist fall to somersault. Use your fucking brain and remember the choreography."

"Kiriyama, ENOUGH!" Takada yelled. "Stop taking your frustrations out on the team. This is the last day for the rookies before they return to school and they aren't back till new term in April. Go take a cold shower and cool down."

"Excuse you, Takada, I'm the captain not you."

"Right now you're being a brat and not doing what's best as captain. Go clear the head…"

"So which fucker was it? The one you slept with and then fucked around with me," he asked out of the blue.

"Calm down and we can have this conversation in private.."

"Fuck privacy. I want to know NOW! Who were you working for?"

"Aniki, that's who. Nagayama Hiroshi, my step-father's son."

"The fuck? You have a thing for your own siblings, and that rich boy brat wasn't for shit, there was no way…"

"That's where you're wrong. For one, not incest, I liked him before our parents got married and they got divorced soon after. For two, he was running the entire chain of yankees in Shinjuku. He wasn't gay, he fucked me the once and that was it and then asked me to destroy you by making you queer. Got it? Which I succeeded."

"I wasn't in love with you, you were in love with me!"

"Yeah, okay. Think that if you want. I heard things, Kiriyama. How you would accidentally say my name during sex. Or would have fits wondering where I was when I hadn't been around for two years. You were in love with me, and I loved you. I just didn't realize till we met up again here. You happy? You got the story. Now get off your high horse and run practice correctly."

"What happened to him? To Nagayama? You still fuck around with him even though you fuck around with me?"

Takada looked at him, letting out a breath. "He died, two years ago. When I was sitting on his grave crying my eyes out I realized I had royally screwed up and lost the two most important people in my life, him and you. Mostly you and it was his fault that I lost you. Look if you want to be pissed off at me that's fine but do it on our time. We've wasted enough of club practice with this shit. Pull the rod out your ass and be the captain."

Kiriyama sighed. "Everyone to the mat, deer handstands till I say to stop."

The boys looked at their captain before deciding not to argue and roll up into the handstand. He walked among them his aura back to normal 'slave driver' as opposed to scorned lover. "Takahashi, do you want me to knock your arms out from under you?"

"I-Iie, buchou!"

"Then arch your feet and point your toes. Balance, precision, strength, ladies. That is what this sport is about. Repeat that for me if you would. Balance, precision, strength."

The team repeated in in a unisoned roar. Balance. Precision. Strength. Over and over, till it would be drilled into their heads. After five minutes he allowed them to roll out, Takahashi rolling straight into the boy in front of him making the team laugh. "Ah, I'm so sorry Araki, I didn't mean to do that!"

Araki looked at him before shrugging and walking off, leaving Takahashi to sigh and shake his head. On a spur of the moment Takahashi yelled to the other boy. "I LOVE YOU, ARAKI!" Araki raised his hand waving him off before lifting his middle finger. The team laughed once again at their seemingly mute team member. They were glad Araki knew how to lighten the mood if only unintentionally.

"Alright, lets work on choreography. Aniki-tachi help your otouto-tachi. The rest split into groups of six and work on the performance piece for Kanto next year."

"HAI!" they yelled, going off to do as instructed. Ryosuke respectfully asked his aniki if they could stay close to Mizusawa and Kiriyama. Considering the news of what happened had already spread he had no problem with adhering to that.

"Put your arm across your waist, and bring your right arm in a circle bringing your left leg with you, in three. Down forward to five, jump forward into sommersault and back hand spring backwards, landing on 10, got it?" Kiriyama said to a beat. He was keeping his distance from his kouhai today. He gave props to Ryosuke though. The yankee actually seem to love his boyfriend, at least love him enough to punch someone trying to have his way with him. He didn't fear Ryosuke, he knew he could take the boy down if he wanted, but Ryosuke had gained his respect, and with Kiriyama that was a hard thing to do.

-o-o-o-

"Well this is the end," Kiriyama sighed dramatically. "Our dear rookies go home tomorrow morning to return to the mediocrity of Senior High Rhythmic gymnastics. But don't slack, got it? You are ours permanently in April and we're going to give you hell. Also, good luck at Worlds and don't embarrass us, because you represent Teito University too, now. And because we love you boys we have gifts for you."

The aniki-tachi of the rhythmic gymnastics team handed a bag to their ototou-tachi. Inside was both a jersey and a t-shirt. The jersey was forest green and white, declaring Teito University Rhythmic Gymnastics team, the school emblem on the front. The t-shirt was light green, the front had a silhouetted figure doing a deer handstand and the shirt declared Balance, Precision, Strength.

"Don't let your training here go to waste. See you rookies in a couple of months," Kiriyama smiled.

-o-o-o-

"Sugoi, sempai," Satoshi awed, looking at the fancy new jerseys.

"Damn those are nice, what else they give you at the fancy camp," Wataru asked. Yuuta unzipped his jersey to show the t-shirt underneath. "What the hell does it say?"

"Balance, precision, strength," Kaneko read off.

"It was Kiriyama-buchou's chant. He made everyone say it daily, like a mantra."

"You don't mind if we wear these today, do you?" Mizusawa asked nervously, ready to change if they didn't like them.

"Naw, go ahead, you guys earned them so show them off," Wataru smiled, locking the three boys into a hug. "Na, minna?" The other boys of the Kara High team agreed, it would be similar to when Hino wore his Team Japan jersey, so it truly wasn't that much of a problem.

"Minna, lets work hard today," Satoshi cheered, smiling brightly. They gave a yell of 'yosh' before leaving the clubroom and making their way to the gym. Upon entering their mouths dropped at the balance beam that was set up and the three new 15 foot tied ropes. Shoko walked over to them, holding out a note from Yuuta. "Apparently you made an impression at Teito, this note was left for you by a Kiriyama Yoshiro."

Yuuta accepted it, thanking her before opening. "Hey Rooks don't slack and play nice. 10, 20, 30, you got it, remember it. If you come back in April week I'll work your asses till you drop. Oh, and Mizusawa, it only hurts the first times to fall. You can do it on 4 inches you can do it on the mat. Balance, precision, strength, we'll be waiting. Oh, and Araki says 'hi'." Together they laughed at the oddness that was the Teito university RG team. They're friends might not have understood why it was funny but that was okay "Minna, let's stretch," Yuuta called.

"Sugoi!" the girls cooed as the Ryosuke, Mizusawa, and Yuuta climbed the rope with their hands only. Even their own team was watching in amazement as they climbed up and down never touching the rope with their legs or feet.

"I kind of miss Araki-sempai," Yuuta mused as they climbed back to the top.

"He was your aniki, ne, captain?"

"Un. He was really nice, just really kind of quiet. He's a language major, oddly enough. He knows Japanese, English, Italian, Spanish, and French and is currently learning Greek and Mandarin. Kind of get why Takahashi has a crush on him."

"It was fucking obvious though," Ryosuke scoffed. "I almost died laughing when Kiriyama yelled at those guys to stop thinking about tits. That was great. That was before he made me hate him by molesting MY boyfriend."

"Ry-Ryosuke," Mizusawa stuttered, still ashamed of the way he acted around the other male, even if Ryosuke didn't blame him.

Letting go of the rope they, took off towards the gym door ready to do laps. "You guys want to run laps with us?" Yuuta called with a smile. He knew his team would agree, they liked running laps as a group.

Satoshi sat on the sidelines, cheering the team on as they rounded the field in stamina warm-up. They ran, and ran, and ran, till they literally couldn't run anymore. Each one collapsing against the bench heaving for much wanted and needed oxygen. All but four of the boys that continued to run the laps hardly sweating.

"Ganbatte, minna," Satoshi yelled to his three sempai and classmate. It wasn't really a surprise that Hino could keep up with them and their new training regimen, but Wataru found himself glaring and declaring as they finished.

"That's it! I can't lose to you guys!"

"Aniki," Nippori awed, before jumping up and agreeing, Kaneko following him. Kiyama shook his head at them, looking at his boyfriend as if to say 'they're all idiots'. Wataru immediately took off running to the gym, the ropes his target. He tried climbing like the others had only to fail miserably with a hurt ass and rope burned hands. But he was not going to give up, Azuma Wataru did NOT give up, at least not at rhythmic gymnastics.

Yuuta scoffed good-naturedly at his hot-headed friend before turning his attention to Ryosuke and Mizusawa. "Let's do our laps. Minna, can we use the mat for a minute."

They agreed stepping off to the side, Wataru still attempting to climb the ropes. Turning their backs to the mat, they took a deep breath before diving back wards into back hand springs, staying in sync with each other as they crossed the mat. Getting to the end they jumped into the air, twisting enough to but their backs to the mats before continuing their laps of back handsprings.

"Su-Sugoi," the girls cooed, watching in amazement. "They're perfectly synchronized."

"And fast."

"And strong," the cooed.

"Damn, they got turned into robotic rhythmic gymnastic machines at that camp," Wataru awed, eyes wide.

"Aniki, how are we supposed to catch up with them now?"

"Daijoubu, Nippori, anything they can do we can do. We'll just go on the same regimen that they did at that camp and in no time the girls will be gushing over us."

"Ani-aniki," Nippori whimpered, wiping his eyes dramatically.

"What comes next on your training regimen?" Kiyama asked, half-interested, half-concerned they would actually leave their friends behind. He had seen it happen before, which is why till now he had chosen not to have friends close to him. The last person close to him, well….

"Oh, um…arabesque for five minutes and then roll into deer handstands for five minutes," Mizusawa answered, feeling a little worried that they were showing off to the others, even unintentionally. "But, we should practice for Worlds. We can…do our training regimen in the morning. No problem," Mizusawa smiled, hoping to make everyone feel better.

"Sempai should go ahead and finish, I want to see you hold those moves for five whole minutes," Satoshi called excitedly. They nodded to each other before getting into place, and rising into graceful, perfectly balanced arabesques.

"In three days time they went to an entirely different level," Shoko commented, watching the boys with her arms crossed. "It was shown that you boys learn fast, and three days was all it took for them to become gymnasts worthy of the title elite."

Indeed five minutes had fully elapsed when the boys somersaulted forward, pushing up into deer stands.

"Sugoi, they have complete synchronization," Satoshi cheered. "And their form is beautiful."

"Their extensions are near perfect. Pointed toes. Arched backs, legs fully extended. If it's one thing I know of Teito's rhythmic gymnastics team their current team captain, Kiriyama, settles for nothing less than perfection."

"Guy is a slave driver is what he is," Ryosuke called to Shoko, as they rolled down from their handstands. "He's a good captain, even if he's not a good guy."

"He's a good guy, he's just…."

"Still don't like him as a person," Ryosuke huffed. "Let's get on with Worlds practice, kay? Then we can stay late and practice the routine for Kanto try-outs."

"But Ryosuke, you need to study for Teito's entrance exam," Mizusawa fretted.

"Not a problem. I'll pass it without cheating, I promise you that."

-o-o-o-

Kiyama looked at the ropes, eyeing them up and down. They weren't stupid. Today's practice showed that Ryosuke, Mizusawa, and Yuuta would easily up stage them no matter how unintentionally. Hino would be able to keep up fairly easily but that still left two spots. If he dedicated himself to it, he could easily gain that spot, but thanks to his wrist he had hardly had any chance to train.

"Oh, Kiyama," Mizusawa called, entering the empty gym. "What are you doing here this late?"

"Strength training," he answered. "Two more guys need to catch up to you. Satoshi probably could but he can't do tumbling."

Mizusawa smiled at the hint of a protective tone in Kiyama's voice. "I didn't mean to bother you, I just felt like a couple of my stunts were off balance, so I was going to run them on beam."

"Run them on beam?"

"Un. It's a training Kiriyama-buchou gave to me," he answered, walking over to the new balance beam. "If I can do the moves on this, I can do them on the floor. Do you mind spotting me? In case I fall," he clarified at Kiyama's slightly confused looked. The yankee agreed walking over to stare next to the boy that formally had a crush on him.

"How do you plan to get on this thing?"

Giving a smile akin to a smirk, Mizusawa placed his hands on the beam lifting himself into a handstand.

"That works," Kiyama nodded.

Once on his feet Mizusawa took a deep breath before jumping backwards into two back handsprings. His feet hit the beam hard and he sighed in relief when he didn't stagger. Running a couple of steps he jumped forward into a tuck, hitting the beam hard but keeping his balance. He followed up with a back hand spring, then another, and another before jumping in a twist. He landed on his feet, his balance wavering, he tried to catch himself only to fall.

Fortunately, Kiyama was there to catch him, arms wrapped around the slighter figure. "You alright?"

"Yeah, fine," he nodded. A few months ago he would have killed to have Kiyama holding him like this. His arms wrapped around him, holding him protectively. Faintly he wondered… "Kiss me."

Kiyama stared at his boyfriend's best friend in disbelief. "Excuse me?" If he wasn't such a nice guy he would have dropped the other on his ass.

"I-I just want to know..what it would feel like…that's it. Just one," Mizusawa pleaded. Closing his eyes Kiyama leaned down pressing his lips softly to the other boy's. The kiss was lips against lips, a soft chaste exchange. Had this been Satoshi his tongue would undoubtedly be in the boy's mouth right about now. But it wasn't Satoshi, it was Mizusawa.

"What did you feel?" Kiyama asked, when he pulled back.

Mizusawa looked at him with a broad smile. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing." This was great news to himself. While he could tell himself he didn't feel anything for Kiyama, that lingering emotion could have haunted him. The one kiss was all it took to reassure him that his feelings for Kiyama were completely gone, as if they never existed.

"On that twist, it looked like you didn't get all the way around…"

"Eh? I didn't? Maybe if I pull my arms in tighter I'll get the full rotation. Thank you, Kiyama," Mizusawa said, climbing back onto the balance beam.

Unbeknownst to the two, a shadow darted away from the gym, a lovely new picture displayed in a cell phone photo album. The shadow stopped, breathing heavily against the wall. Scrolling through it's contact list it highlighted every name before moving to the send button. One click was all it would take. Just one click, and two relationship would no doubtably completely shatter.

-chapter 12 owari-


	13. Chapter 13

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Ry-Ryuichiro-sempai," Satoshi stuttered. He really couldn't believe what his boyfriend just told him. Kiyama seemed like the type to be completely faithful to a lover, but he kissed another boy?

"It was Mizusawa," Kiyama clarified. "He asked me to kiss him and I obliged, but don't think of it wrongly. He wanted to see if he still felt anything for me…"

"And..?" Satoshi asked, trying to keep his lip from quivering.

"He felt nothing. His heart completely belongs to Tsukimori. He knew it in his heart, but his mind betrayed him saying he may still hold feeling for me."

Satoshi didn't want to ask further but he had to know. "Di-did you feel anything?"

Kiyama looked down at his petite lover, placing a finger under his chin. Kissing him softly, he gave the boy a smile. "The only thing I felt was wishing he was you. I'm sorry for betraying your trust, Satoshi."

"I-Iie you told me the truth, and that's more than I could ask for," Satoshi smiled, hugging his boyfriend tightly. "Do you think Mizusawa-sempai will tell Ryosuke-sempai?"

Giving a sigh, Kiyama pet Satoshi's hair. "I highly doubt it."

-o-o-o-

"What have those girls been giggling about all day?" Ryosuke asked, starting to get annoyed.

"Who knows, let's practice," Yuuta sighed. Their advisors weren't present in the gym, so everyone seemed to be standing around.

"I would have never believed Mizusawa to be a whore," one of the girls called a bit to loudly, making the boy's team stop and look.

"Bet he spreads his legs open for all kinds of guys. Like that Shogo-san…"

"That Umemori Hiroki that was hanging around Washizu."

"I heard he even fooled around with the captain of Teito."

"Oi, Shut your fucking mouths," Wataru and Ryosuke yelled at them.

"Poor Ryosuke-kun, your boyfriend is a whore. Spreading his legs for anyone, even Kiyama."

Mizusawa felt his heart drop to his feet. Was it possible they knew? It was an innocent kiss but…

"Shut your mouths before I make you shut them.." Ryosuke glared, advancing forward.

"So protective of the boy that was kissing another," a girl sang, stepping forward holding out her pink cell phone for Ryosuke's view. Mizusawa immediately recognized this girl as Nami, the one that had been angry upon hearing he was dating Ryosuke.

Ryosuke took the cell phone, staring at the picture it held in disbelief. "Taku…" Mizusawa didn't have the will to look at his boyfriend. "What the hell is this?" Mizusawa knew Ryosuke was holding the phone for his view, but he refused to look up. "Look at it damnit!"

"I-It wasn't anything, it was an in-innocent kiss."

"Bullshit! There's no such fucking thing as an innocent kiss, not with the person you had a crush on," Ryosuke exclaimed, his voice raising in his anger.

"Please, Ryosuke, I just had to know…I had to know if my feelings for Kiyama were completely gone," Mizusawa pleaded looking into the angry eyes of his lover.

"You shouldn't need a fucking kiss to tell you that, Mizusawa. You should fucking know! In your heart."

"I know what my heart says, but my head…"

"DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR FUCKING HEAD! This is why I don't get involved in serious relationships, I dick chicks around I don't get dicked around. Telling you what I did was a mistake, because obviously we we're not there yet….nor will we ever be."

"Please, Ryosuke, don't take it back," Mizusawa begged, tears streaming down from his eyes. "It was nothing more than a touch of lips, I swear. NOTHING! I don't love Kiyama, I don't even like him that way, I love you."

Ryosuke threw the phone, Nami giving a shriek. "Bull fucking shit. You don't say you love someone and kiss another guy, and you kissed two. The fuck am I supposed to think, Mizusawa? It was a fucking mistake to date a guy, do whoever you want, I'm fucking done."

"Ry-Ryosuke…"

"Fuck this. Fuck gymnastics. Fuck university. I don't give a shit anymore," Ryosuke sighed, walking out of the gym. "I give up chicks and everything for a guy and this is what happens…"

"Hey, asshole, if you at all cared about Mizusawa you would fucking listen to him, maybe you're the one that's not committed," Kiyama yelled after him, but Ryosuke waved him off. Some fucking friend. He didn't want to hear anything from either one of them. Hope the two of them were real fucking proud of themselves.

-o-o-o-

Tears, that's all he tasted. Nothing more. Not even the pain of clenching Ryosuke's necklace in his palm, pierced his depression. He wanted to kick something punch something. He wanted to scream, to yell. He wanted Ryosuke, but Ryosuke was no where to be found. Even Wataru couldn't find the boy or get him on his cell phone. Ryosuke had literally disappeared. His sister tried to help him but he pushed her away. He didn't want anyone but Ryosuke and he wasn't leaving this room for anyone but Ryosuke. "Ryosuke, it hurts so much," he whimpered, curling into the fetal position and willing himself to sleep.

-o-

"Still no contact from Ryosuke or Mizusawa," Yuuta asked.

"Ryosuke isn't answering his phone and Ashira-san hasn't seen him since it happened," Wataru answered.

"Mizusawa-sempai won't come out of his room," Satoshi told them. "He's far into depression already. He's refusing to eat. He has night terrors, his parents are scared and it's only be two days since that happened."

"Wait, you and Kiyama are..yeah, so then why aren't you mad?" Nippori asked.

"Ryuichiro-sempai told me right after it happened. I was pretty upset at first but he explained it and it made sense. Ryuichiro-sempai was Mizusawa-sempai's first real crush, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't stray. I understand how Mizusawa-sempai must have felt. He must have wanted for his head to stop playing mind tricks on him. Telling him things like 'you're only dating Ryosuke because he reminds you of Kiyama'."

"You seem to know Mizusawa-sempai well," Hino commented.

Satoshi nodded. "We talk all the time and he tells me these things. Mizusawa-sempai is in love with Ryosuke-sempai, and he'll starve himself to death if he doesn't have him."

"Ryosuke was the one that hurt him the most, calling him disgusting and unnatural. Tables turned and Ryosuke became Mizusawa's heart, his strength. Now that's gone, the pillar he relied so heavily on, is gone. His world is collapsing."

Wataru looked at Kiyama, eyes widening. "Pillar..?" Grabbing his bag he jumped over the couch heading for the door. "I'll be back."

"Aniki, where you going?"

"I know where Ryosuke is going, or at least where he's heading."

"_When I was a kid my dad showed me this broken down Shinto arch in a field of Sakura blossoms. He told me, if you ever need to think, the spirits will listen. It's the only time my old man ever gave me anything useful."_

-o-o-o-

Looking out to the sea, he watched the sun set behind it's golden horizon. It slipped away, allowing it's sister to take control. The night being her rule. Fireflies illuminated the small orchid with their large quantities, the space almost seemingly to glisten.

"Damn, you asshole, took me forever to get up here. Can't you pick a hiding place that doesn't involve hiking?" Wataru called to his best friend who laid out on the grass.

"You weren't supposed to follow me," Ryosuke answered, blowing out the smoke he held in his mouth. Wataru immediately grabbed the cigarette his friend held, stomping it out. "OI!"

"You quit smoking, remember?"

"And then I quit gymnastics so I quit quitting smoking."

"You didn't quit gymnastics, so quit being a baby."

"Think whatever you want," Ryosuke shrugged, not really feeling up to a fight at the moment.

"You love Mizusawa, don't you?" Wataru asked, taking a seat in the grass. "That's what you said you were going to take back, right? Ever since then Mizusawa hasn't showed up for schools. From what Satoshi said he won't come out of his bedroom, not even to eat."

"Why is that my problem?"

"He's your boyfriend."

"Not anymore, we came to that conclusion two days ago. He wants Kiyama, so he can try and take Kiyama from Satoshi. Not my issue."

Wataru felt his anger rise but pushed it down. Words not fists. Even if hitting Ryosuke would be the best option at the moment. "Do you love Mizusawa?" Ryosuke gave a shrug. "I didn't ask you to fucking shrug. Do you love him, yes or no? You better answer honestly or I'll kick your ass."

"No."

Raising his leg Wataru kicked his best friend hard in the knee, making the other boy glare. "The fuck was that for?"

"I told you if you lie I'd kick your ass."

"That's my knee you jerk-off, I kind of fucking need that."

"I was more easily accessible than your ass at the moment. Now answer the question truthfully, you in love with Mizusawa, right? RIGHT?"

"If I am?" Ryosuke sighed, closing his eyes.

"Then admit that you're as heartbroken as he is, damn, am I the only one with common sense?"

"He kissed Kiyama. KIYAMA! If you don't realize that's the guy he had a crush on."

"Holy shit! YOU THINK KIYAMA IS GOING TO STEAL MIZUSAWA!" Wataru yelled, pointing at Ryosuke.

"Like hell I do," Ryosuke rebutted, knocking the finger away. "Taku is mine, he wouldn't fucking go to Kiyama, even if Kiyama begged."

"Fucker," Wataru scowled, knocking Ryosuke upside the head before kicking his hip to roll the boy to his side. "Where the fuck was THAT mentality the other day when the issue was brought up?"

"Would you stop kicking me in the ass?" Ryosuke gritted out, flipping over and punching his best friend in the arm.

"NO! Because someone needs to, you just said Kiyama couldn't take Mizusawa from you so why the fuck are you here?"

"Seeing that….it hurt a lot more than it was supposed too. Seeing Taku in his arms. Kissing him. Being kissed by him, it…it hurt…"

Wataru laughed good heartedly, ruffling his friend's hair. "Yeah, well, you better get back and comfort Mizusawa before Kiyama really does take him from you."

-o-o-o-

"Taku?"

"Go away, kaa-san," he muttered, shielding his eyes from the light emanating from the hall.

"You have a visitor, Taku."

"I don't want to see anyone, please, just tell them to go away."

The woman nodded, closing the door back. "I apologize, Tsukimori-kun, Taku is in no state to entertain. I thank you…"

Tsukimori?

Tearing off the blanket, Mizusawa jumped from his bed, practically ripping the door from it's hinges. "Ryosuke."

"Hey," the light haired yankee waved. Mizusawa almost threw himself into his boyfriend's…no..ex-boyfriend's arms, but he remembered where they were through.

Ryosuke took in the sight of his ex, from his bed mussed hair, to his pajama pants, to the skull necklace hanging on his bare chest. The yankee couldn't believe he was still wearing that thing like a precious trinket despite their fight. "You look like shit, Taku."

Mizusawa's mother coughed uncomfortably at the language before excusing herself. Stepping back Taku allowed his ex into his room before closing the door and flipping on the light. "I'm happy to see you."

"You're stupid, locking yourself up like this, I ain't worth it."

"But you are, Ryosuke, at least to me. I'm so sorry about..about Kiyama, I shouldn't have kissed him. I know I love you, and you only so I shouldn't have doubted myself."

"No. I overreacted. I should have listened to you like Satoshi listened to Kiyama, but I didn't. I yelled at you, cursed you, and took back what I said. No matter how pissed off I was I shouldn't have said that to you. When you tell someone you love them you don't just take it back because you get angry. So I'm sorry."

Mizusawa chuckled, sniffling back tears. Reaching out he grabbed Ryosuke around the neck, pulling him down, sealing their lips together. Both were eager to feel the other again, it had only been three days, but a the fight had really taken a toll on their libido. A gentle push was all it took to send both boys falling to the bed with a thud.

"Taku," Ryosuke moaned, sucking and nipping hungrily at Mizusawa's neck. The black haired boy beneath him whimpered, tilting his head to allow the other more access. All the access he wanted to mark and bruise him.

"Ryo…" Mizusawa whimpered, in a begging tone, thrusting his hips upwards into his teammate's. Ryosuke moaned against his neck, kissing upwards to Mizusawa's ear, sucking on the lob.

"It would be so sexy if you got your ear pierced."

"E-Eh?" Mizusawa breathlessly stuttered.

"A nice little stud for me to suck on, and nip at , to make you scream," Ryosuke smirked, giving tiny nips to the lob. "What do you say?"

"Mm…take me now..ask later…"

"I can definitely oblige to that."

-o-o-o-

"So you guys all lovey lovey again," Wataru asked when the two entered the gym, Ryosuke's arm around Mizusawa's shoulders.

"Back off Wataru."

"Just asking. We've been fucked as of late for practice because of you two and Worlds is next week. So no more fucking drama till AFTER we beat Washizu, got it?"

Hino sighed, shaking his head. "I don't understand relationships at all."

"OI! Don't be cocky you brat just because you got Mari-chan's number," Wataru glared, playfully pushing on the baby of their team.

"We text, that's it, it's not like we're dating."

"Gah, you are so innocent, allow aniki to instruct you," Wataru smirked, wrapping his new 'otouto' protectively in his arms.

"Nice earring, Mizusawa," Kiyama called offhandedly, gaining Wataru's attention.

Mizusawa flushed when all eyes were on him and he nervously moved his hair to hide the diamond like stud in his ear. "I-It's nothing."

"You made him get his ear pierced!"

"I didn't MAKE him do anything, he did it on his own," Ryosuke huffed. Wataru ran over to them, examining the new piercing.

"This is really red, and not like from infected piercings," a sly smirk found it's way to Ryosuke. "I think you are supposed to wait 24 hours before sucking on your boyfriend's ear or earring for that matter. Couldn't contain yourself?"

"Ani-aniki," Nippori murmured, thinking horrible vivid thoughts about piercings now.

"Can't help myself when Taku is so sensitive to it," he smirked, licking at the stud, making his boyfriend shudder.

"Mi-minna, we should practice," Yuuta called, trying to sound demanding without any awkwardness in his voice.

"Yeah, we've slacked off enough. If Kiriyama was here he'd have already kicked our asses. We'll need to pull all nighters to catch back up."

Bowing quickly, Mizusawa felt it only right to apologize to his friends and teammates. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble again."

"Daijoubu, Mizusawa-sempai, we're your friends. We're there for you when you need us so don't be afraid to lean on us when you're in trouble." Count on Satoshi to give the triumphant friendship speech.

"We may not understand completely, with the homosexual issue, but we can help you as much as we can," Kaneko smiled, fiddling with his glasses.

Hino gave a shrug, walking over to the ropes. "I'd rather just stay out of it, but sempai, if I'm not alone, than neither are you, so don't beat yourself up next time."

"I-I'll just stay out of it."

Wataru looked at his 'otouto' and sighed at his complete lack of empathy. He would need to teach him about how romance was beautiful, no matter if they were gay or straight. "Just tighten the leash a bit, Mizusawa and don't go kissing other guys and it's all good. And I don't mean that in a bondage sense, I mean in a metaforoaracal sense."

Kaneko sniggered behind his hand, getting the usual glare. "It's metaphorical not metaforroaracal."

"You correcting, aniki? He knows what he meant, you asshole," Nippori yelled, grabbing onto Kaneko and playfully attacking him.

"Oi, Kiyama, keeps your hands off my boyfriend and we're square, got it?"

Kiyama looked at Ryosuke, face blank. He wasn't going to bother to point out that Mizusawa was the one that asked him to kiss him. More drama was NOT needed at the moment. Putting an arm around Satoshi's shoulders, Kiyama let the action speak for itself. Satoshi smiled brightly, wrapping his arms around Kiyama's waist. The words 'mine' went completely unspoken but were loud in the empty gym.

"And you, you kiss another guy that's not me, I'll handcuff you to my bed."

Mizusawa blushed brightly at the groans of annoyance from his friends. Leaning forward he found words falling from his lips. "I wouldn't mind that." Ryosuke almost felt his jaw drop as his boyfriend sauntered off. "But only if we win at Worlds," he called.

Damn, Ryosuke smirked, he needed to win at Worlds.

-chapter 13 owari-


	14. Chapter 14

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

Worlds was even louder than Nationals, and ten times louder than Kanto. Everyone was cheering for their team, clapping, and chanting. This was the big time. You either stepped up your game or went home. The announcer told the audience about how things would run. The boys looked around in awe to see all the different countries represented in their home land of Tokyo. Americans were the loudest, cheering in their native tongue of English, Wataru already dreading having to converse with them. In fact, most of the teams seemed to speak English save for the Russians, Chinese, and Korean teams. Even the Italian and French teams knew how to converse in English. Quickly Yuuta reminded Wataru that conversing was not the issue here, beating the other teams was.

"How are my favorite rookies doing?" the taunting voice of Teito Universities captain called. The looked to their soon to be new captain with smiles.

"Takada-sempai, Kiriyama-buchou, it's good to see you," Mizusawa smiled with a bow.

"But why are you here?" Yuuta asked confused. "Don't you have practice?"

"We came to support you guys," Takada smiled kindly. "A few of the others are here as well."

"You guys together now or something?" Ryosuke asked, seeing how Takada was holding Kiriyama's hand, from where it draped over his shoulder.

"Yeah, we are. After we spent all night talking…"

"And two nights fucking," Kiriyama added with a proud smirk.

"We decided to try dating for real, for once."

"I see you marked Mizusawa-kun as yours," Kiriyama taunted, motioning towards the new piercing. "Wish you would have done that sooner, would have been fun as fuck to play with that, specially with how sensitive Mizusawa-kun is."

Ryosuke glared at the older male, wrapping a protective arm around Mizusawa and pulling him to him. Takada thrust his elbow into his boyfriend's side giving him a loud scolding.

"Turns me gay and then complains when I look at guys. I'd look at girls but tits have no appeal to me anymore," Kiriyama muttered. "Besides the point. We'll be watching and if you guys bomb, there will be an ass kicking waiting for you."

Takada sighed before turning a smile to the rookies. "Ganbatte."

-o-

Final Score:

1st - Japan 18.970

2nd- Japan 18.950

3rd - China 18.700

4th - USA 18.550

-o-o-o-

They hadn't won, come in second but that wasn't winning. Yet, Mizusawa felt like they had won and apparently Ryosuke did as well, as he held up to what he said about handcuffs. Which had been waiting in Ryosuke's room when they arrived back from Worlds. The blonde yankee didn't skip a beat before throwing his boyfriend down on the bed, stripping his shirt off, and strapping his wrists above his head.

The teasing had been seemingly endless. Each touch and caress more gentle than the next. Ryosuke's kisses, his nips, his bites, all aimed at Mizusawa's most sensitive spots. He tried not to give in to quickly to his lover, but it was to overwhelming, especially when his main pleasure points were being stimulated simultaneously. He couldn't get his boyfriend inside him fast enough.

When Ryosuke finally sheathed himself inside his boyfriend, Mizusawa let him know how wonderful it felt. He whimpered as he spread his legs further open, allowing more leeway into him. He pulled at the chains, whimpering as he was pounded into the head board. Pleads fell from his lips, begging for it harder and deeper and even faster; the cries almost drowned out by the slamming headboard.

Ryosuke obliged to every command, hands roaming every inch of his boyfriend's body. Their mouths tangled in a messy sloppy dance of saliva swapping.

-o-

Tsukimori Ishida walked through the front door of the house, toeing off his shoes. For once he was completely sober and not on some kind of drug. He had come home deciding it might be time to see his baby brother, who he couldn't remember seeing in the past month or so. He probably had but he might have been to drunk or high to remember. Oh well.

Walking down the hall he caught the familiar thumping of a headboard. A smirk crossed his face as whimpering moans of pleasure followed the sounds. So his little brother knew how to fuck. Knew how to get chicks into bed. Maybe he wasn't a hopeless case. Opening the door to his baby brother's room his eyes widened before a large smirk crossed his face. It had been a long time since he had a good 'fag rape'.

"Whatcha doin' there baby brother?"

Ryosuke froze, Mizusawa's own cries dying on his lips at the intruder they had not heard come in.

"Ahhh, the old handcuff the fag and rape him on the bedpost game. I remember that. Oh, don't let me interrupt, please continue. But you need to be rougher, he's not even bleeding yet, half the fun is getting them to bleed," Ishida sung, looking to where their bodies were joined.

"Go away," Ryosuke bit out.

"Now come on, baby brother, when have we really down anything together? We can do this together, fuck the fag till he cries. You like cocks down your throat, pretty boy? Bet you do, you look like a hungry cock sucker," Ishida smirked, petting Mizusawa's hair.

"Leave him alone, Ishida!"

"Fine. Fine, I'll just watch, please continue."

Leaning down Ryosuke whispered in his lover's ear. "Please, play along, he'll hurt you if you don't." Mizusawa nodded, he understood. He truly had no eager for this other man to do anything to him. The man may have looked like an elder version of Ryosuke, but he was far crueler.

Ryosuke pulled out, slamming as hard into his boyfriend as he could manage, the boy giving a convincing scream of pain. So convincing it made Ryosuke falter for a second thinking he had actually hurt the boy. The glint of lust in Mizusawa's eyes were the only indicator that he hadn't. He couldn't pounding into his boyfriend, the boy screaming at every hard thrust, desperately pulling at his handcuffs to get away. Ryosuke made a mental note to play this game later when his brother WASN'T threatening them, because this was actually really fucking hot.

"Maybe some double penetration would help with the bleeding problem," Ishida smirked, standing up and unzipping his zipper.

Without thinking Ryosuke unlatched the handcuffs, pulling Mizusawa to his chest; hugging him tightly as he continued to roll his hips into the others.

Ishida watched with a cruel gleam in his eyes. Grabbing his brother's hair he yanked the boys head back. "Keep fucking him…you're in love with him, aren't you?"

"L-Let go…"

"You've turned into a faggot haven't you, Ryo-chan? Maybe I should fuck you instead while you fuck your precious lover, or do you consider him your 'boyfriend'," he said the word mockingly, spatting at it.

"Ishida!"

Two pairs of eyes turned to the angry woman in the doorway. Their mother had her arms crossed, eyes fierce.

"Hey, okaa-chan, I was hanging out with Ryo-chan," Ishida smiled.

"Get out!" she ordered, pointing. "Out of this house altogether. I'm tired of the drugs, the drinking, the whores, and then this. You don't treat family members like that, and until you learn respect you can stay out of this house, you understand me?"

"Okaa-san…for this faggot, you'll…"

"It's my money that pays for that druggie lifestyle of yours. Maybe when you're living in a box you'll understand, now go."

"Ch' whatever, stick up for the fag like I care," he sneered, releasing Ryosuke, pushing both boys to the bed. "I'll go crash with my friends in Hakone, I don't care. Hot springs and chicks, not a problem."

Ashira gave them a sad smile, before closing the door and continuing to yell at her oldest.

"I am so sorry, Taku," Ryosuke apologized, the entire mood now completely ruined. "I didn't want him to hurt you, and he would have and…"

"It's fine Ryosuke," Mizusawa smiled, stroking his boyfriend's hair which had been abused just moments ago. "He didn't hurt me and neither did you. I'm perfectly fine."

"God the sexy mood from a moment ago is totally killed, and I was getting off on those fake screams of yours. Didn't know you could fake 'em like that."

"If you want, later, we can play that kind of game. I don't mind, since I know you won't hurt me, Ryosuke."

"Nnh," Ryosuke groaned, nuzzling Mizusawa's neck. "You sure now how to bring a guy's erection back."

Taku laughed loudly, glad to have been some assistance.

-o-o-o-

"This sucks so much!" Wataru yelled, kicking the table which had books splayed out. Natsuko glared at her son, telling him not to break her tables or he'd be fixing them. Wataru complained that he couldn't study upstairs but last time he did he planned on ways to cheat rather than study.

"Let's not complain and just study," Kiyama sighed, writing the answer to a math problem in his workbook.

Yuuta nodded. "We have exit exams coming up and Ryosuke needs to take Teito's entrance exam to get his full scholarship."

"And I don't know half this shit," Ryosuke complained, banging his head on the table.

"Maybe you should have Mizusawa ask the questions and then you get a reward every time you answer right. Like you can fuck him or he can blow you or something," Wataru suggested, earning groans from his friends who didn't rather like that idea.

"Daijoubu, Ryo, you'll do fine. It's not all that hard."

"Easy for you to say, Taku, the fuck is a linear equation? I don't know this shit and the fuck with translations, and fuck classical Japanese for that matter. GAH! I hate school!"

"Amen, Ryosuke, amen," Wataru sighed, patting his best friend on the back. "You can stay here and work with me."

"I'd rather not," Ryosuke dead-panned. "I'd rather go to college and enjoy my boyfriend. Speaking of, I found an apartment near campus if you want to check it out with me later."

"You guys are moving in together!"

"It's the same thing as a dorm room, just an apartment instead. We'll be roommates," Mizusawa clarified.

"Yeah, roommates that fuck each other. That's living together! Kiyama, tell them!"

"That's living together," Kiyama muttered, not looking up from his book. "At least that's what Satoshi said it was when I asked if he wanted to come over to my place, for a bit more permanent stay-over."

"You asked Satoshi to move in with you?" Wataru and Mizusawa asked, Mizusawa quieter about his question then Wataru.

"What did he say?"

Kiyama shrugged, even though it was clear he knew the answer.

Mizusawa nodded, pulling out his cellphone and texting the boy he had become close to, almost like a best friend. Typing the message in quickly, he waited till his phone rang with Satoshi's set ringtone. "Moshi! Moshi!"

Satoshi's voice was a muffled clear over the ear piece. It was clear enough that they knew the boy was speaking but far to muffled for them to know what was being said. They could clearly here Mizusawa's bit seeing as he was sitting at the table with them. He asked if Kiyama asked Satoshi to move in with him, going quiet before nodding his head. A muttering of something in English followed before Mizusawa laughed good naturedly. "That's so cute," Mizusawa smiled. "Hai. Oyasumi." Closing the phone, he smiled to the group. "He said yes."

"Well congratulations Kiyama, you have a wife," Wataru smirked, raising his glass in a toast.

"Put it down, Azuma."

"Why don't you make me?"

"Wataru," Yuuta glared, making the red-head sit back down and look at a book. Did no one find it odd that the red-head listened so readily to their captain?

"Let's get back to studying," Kaneko sighed, fidgeting with his glasses for the umpteenth time.

-o-o-o-

"Mmmm…."

"Now, what's x equal, Ryosuke," Mizusawa whispered, pulling on his boyfriend's piericing gently with his teeth. Ryosuke moaned, completing ignoring what Mizusawa just asked.

"Itai!" he yelped, when his boyfriend bit down on his ear hard. "The hell was that for."

Mizusawa pressed his body closer to Ryosuke's side, pointing to the math book on the table. "What does 'x' equal?"

Ryosuke gulped, his boyfriend's hand sliding over the front of his pants, teasing him. "I-It's..u-uh…tw-twenty-t-two…"

"That's right," Mizusawa smiled. "I think you deserve a bit of a treat," he mused, placing his head in Ryosuke's lap.

"I don't think you were supposed to take Wataru's suggestion seriously."

"I didn't. I'm not going to do any of that until you pass the test, until then I'll just tease you. I like hearing you groan," he smiled. "Next problem," he said, mouthing at Ryosuke's clothed erection.

"The next problem is you doing that to me. I'm only concentrating on one thing with you down there and it ain't math."

Mizusawa chuckled, nuzzling further into Ryosuke's lap making him groan.

"That's it, fuck the math!" Ryosuke declared, pulling his boyfriend up and pushing him to the floor. "I'll study math later. Time for a science lesson."

Mizusawa blinked up at his lover, innocent once again. "Ryosuke, anatomy isn't on the test."

"Too damn bad."

-o-o-o-

Taping his pencil against the table the yankee sighed in annoyance, at waiting for this damned test. It wasn't supposed to start for another 10 minutes which left him sitting here in boredom. Normally he would idly play with his necklace, but he no longer had that and had grown use to it. Didn't mean he didn't wish he had it right now to play with.

"Is he a yankee?"

"Kind of looks like one," two girls behind him whispered.

"But he's kind of cute. Wonder if he got lost here or something."

"Yeah, he doesn't seem like the type to go to Teito, does he?"

"Cute or not, if you're not Teito material than you shouldn't be here."

He sighed. He really got tired of people stereotyping him because of his appearance. Okay, sure, he's a yankee. Sure he smoked. Past tense. Sure he got into fights, again past tense, even if a good fight would be great about now. Sure he didn't do nerd fabulous in school. Didn't mean he was stupid. The only reason he had to take this stupid test was to solidify his scholarship, he already passed the exit exams, so how hard would this be?

"Are you bored, yankee?" a preppy boy next to him asked.

He looked at the pristine boy with his combed brunette hair, perfect toned complexion, and narrowed serious hazel eyes and scoffed. This guy's mom undoubtedly still dressed his. Either that or he was dared to dress like that. "Just a bit. They took my phone so I can't text."

"Oh? Going to text your yankee buddies to come rob us?"

"I was actually going to text my….girlfriend," he paused, almost having said boyfriend. These are people he'd probably end up seeing quite a bit and he didn't want them to know he was dating another guy. At least he didn't want to tell them. They could find out on their own later, if they did meet again.

"She a yankee too?"

"Actually, no. She's a good girl, the girl next door type that's got a bit of a bad girl side in her. Smoking hot too. God, I'm glad she has a thing for yankees." Ryosuke looked up at the ceiling contemplating on the fact that it was so easy to call Mizusawa smoking hot, when that term had previously only been used for girls. Well, it was the truth, he did find Mizusawa attractive. Especially when he was whimpering as he was being fucked.

The preppy boy ignored the description of the girl, grimacing slightly as if he did not find this description appealing. "What are you doing here? Might I ask? You don't seem like Teito, material."

"And you do? Just because your parents had cash and sent you to a snotty private school doesn't make you better than me. You've probably never even been outside in your life. It's called sports, guy, baseball, basketball…"

"For your information, yankee, I'm a gymnast and plan to audition for Teito's rhythmic gymnastics team."

Ryosuke couldn't stop himself from laughing like crazy, earning a glare.

"Stop laughing," he glared. "Rhythmic gymnastics isn't just for women. Men do it too. It's not twirling ribbons and throwing balls."

Waving his hand Ryosuke continued to laugh. This guy was going to audition when this test was basically Ryosuke's in for the team.

"Tsukimori. Asahi. If you wish to continue your conversation than you may do so elsewhere. If you play to take this test, please silence yourselves," the proctor called, walking the rows and placing the booklets down. Once the test was handed out and Ryosuke contained his laughter, the proctor looked up at the clock. "The test consists of four sections, you have an hour per section. If you finish early please review and turn you booklet upside down. At the end of four hours we will collect the test and scores will be posted in one weeks time. Place your name and test number on the front."

The students did so, the room void of sound save for scratching pencils.

The proctor watched the clock closely waiting for the time to be exactly even. When the hands finally made it to their designated time of 10 am, the proctor nodded. "You may begin," he announced. The students flipped open their books and set to work.

Ryosuke took a deep breath. It was now or never.

-chapter 14 owari-


	15. Chapter 15

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

Knowing two people were romantically involved was one thing, seeing said people make out was another. They could understand Ryosuke wanting to publicly make-out with Mizusawa, Ryosuke wasn't exactly subtle in relationships. They didn't want to see it but they could understand it. What they were seeing out was just a bit out of the realm of their imaginations. Because NONE of them expected to see Kiyama and Satoshi locked in a tight lip-lock. Correction, Kiyama and Satoshi with their tongues down each others throats. It was an inconceivable thought till now.

"Hey! Would you guys stop for two seconds!" Wataru yelled over to his friend who were gaining looks from everyone. Satoshi pulled away with a large blush, looking at his friends.

"So-sorry, it's just, Ry-Ryuchiro-sempai is le-leaving tomorrow and…"

"It's fine," Wataru sighed, waving them off. "Go enjoy yourselves."

"Just not against walls in public," Nippori added.

"They're just celebrating graduation," Ryosuke chipped in, wrapping his arm around Mizusawa's shoulders. "You should celebrate, Wataru, I mean you DID graduate."

"You know what punk.." Wataru snarled, advancing towards his best friend.

"Oh, got to run," Ryosuke laughed, kissing Mizusawa on the cheek before ducking away and off into a sprint, Wataru running after him; Nippori followed close behind.

Kiyama shook his head, taking Satoshi's hand and leading him away with departing words. Hino was the only second year that had not showed up to congratulate his sempai on their graduation. He apologized, saying his father wanted him to go to the gym, which they all understood. Hino was still slowly trying to gain his father's full acceptance.

"Now it's just us," Yuuta smiled. "Like it was in the beginning. Hard to believe it's over. Senior High I mean."

"Yes but you and Mizusawa will be going to the same university, so you'll still be teammates," Kaneko smiled, walking with his friends.

"How about you Kaneko? Are you going to university?" Mizusawa asked.

"In Chiba, think I might try out for rhythmic gymnastics, but I'm not sure. It's not the same without you guys, and I'm really not up to the level of university gymnastics."

"Don't say that. I'm sure you could make it, and maybe we'll see each other in competition someday," Yuuta encouraged, thinking how fun it would be to compete against his friend.

"You never know," Mizusawa nodded.

Kaneko returned the nod. "You never know."

-o-o-o-

"This is a family oriented complex. No drugs. No smoking. Alcohol is permitted but please no public intoxication. Um…I personally have nothing against…homosexuals, and not to imply that you boys are.." the woman fidgeted. "But we do have a pair of boys that are, that live below the apartment you will be staying in are."

"Is that a problem?" Mizusawa questioned, playing nervously with Ryosuke's necklace.

"Well not for me really, but the floors are rather thin as are the walls, and things can be heard…soo…you understand. It may be safe to invest in ear plugs," she smiled, turning to unlock the apartment door.

"Or be louder than them," Ryosuke whispered, running a hand over Mizusawa's backside, making the boy arch.

"Ryosuke," he scolded, pushing the boys hand away.

"Here is the keys, and I hope you boys enjoy it here," she smiled, walking away back down the hall and turning to go down the stairs. They watched her go before they turned an entered their new apartment. It was a standard apartment with wood floors and one room. These apartments were the cheapest. One big spacious room, with a bath room and kitchen. The room would be multi purpose serving as the living room, bedroom, and dinning room, but two college boys didn't need much more than that. Correction, two college boys DATING didn't need much more room than that.

The apartment was completely empty, void of furniture. They would fix that soon enough. Ryosuke was eager to move out of his mom's place anyways, so he was alright with bringing all his stuff here. While Mizusawa still wanted to feel like he had a space back home and his parents wanted that too. In the case that this went badly.

"Maybe we should break the floor in? Or the bathroom counter? Or the kitchen counter?"

"How about we unload the truck because we have practice later tomorrow," Mizusawa counter offered.

"How about we unload the bed, you let me fuck you, then we go to practice."

"Unload the truck or you'll get zero fun at all tonight," he smiled back, walking out the door and down the stairs. He walked to the moving truck Ryosuke following behind him grumbling about how Mizusawa was being unfair.

"Hey, you must be the new guys upstairs," a man called, light blue hair donning his head, falling over dark black eyes. He was somewhat tall, probably about 5'10" if they had to guess. Most likely an athlete too since he had the build of one. "I'm Akihara Atsushi. Everyone around here calls me 'Sushi' since my dad owns a sushi bar a couple of blocks from here," he smiled.

"I'm Mizusawa Taku. This is my roommate Tsukimori Ryosuke."

Ryosuke gave a mock salute, jumping up to open the truck. He didn't want to prolong this unpacking bit. The faster they got unpacked the faster he could get laid.

"Do you guys need help? I can get Hiko out here to, if you guys need help."

Before Mizusawa could turn the offer down Ryosuke was already telling the man it would be great to have help. This earned him a glare as Taku knew EXACTLY why Ryosuke was in such a hurry and it wasn't practice.

Sushi left before returning with a blonde boy, who was obviously a seme. His hands were shoved into jean pockets, his brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. He was fair skinned, and had opted for not wearing a shirt. A cigarette dangled from his lips, as he looked the two boys up and down.

"This is Morimura Hidehiko, don't let him scare you, he's not as tough as he looks," Sushi smiled, putting a hand on the taller male's shoulder.

"We're not," Mizusawa smiled.

Hidehiko blinked at him as if to say 'are you dumb'. Everyone around here was pretty much afraid of him, the only reason they tolerated him was thanks to his lover, who was about the sweetest person they knew. Taking his cigarette from his lips, he threw it to the ground stomping it out. "This is my good Samaritan act for the day." He turned to the light haired boy, gripping his chin hard, bringing them close. "You'll pay me back later with a suck and fuck, got me?"

"I'll ride you all night if that's what you want," he whispered, breathlessly.

Ryosuke looked over at his boyfriend. Who pointed at him with a glare, telling him not to say a damn thing. Grabbing a box of crap Ryosuke hopped down, stopping behind his lover. "I'm just saying it's idea."

"Unpack," Mizusawa reiterated climbing into the truck and grabbing a box, before heading upstairs.

Hidehiko and Atsushi were more of a help than Mizusawa originally thought they would be. They were fast and strong. "So you guys go to Teito?" Sushi asked, as he walked up the stairs backwards carrying the bed.

"We're both 1st year scholarship students, rhythmic gymnastics," Mizusawa answered, carrying another box of clothes.

"That's cool, I'm a tennis player myself. You must know Kiriyama Yoshiro then."

"Yeah, he's a prick," Ryosuke commented, carrying his TV up the stairs. They entered the room, Mizusawa telling the two to set the bed against the wall.

"Sounds like Yoshiro. He's my brother-in-law's younger brother. My sister and his brother got married two year ago…"

"And they are expecting their first spawn soon," Hidehiko added, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up. "Sorry, I'm being rude, want one," he asked, holding the pack out.

"I don't smoke," Mizusawa smiled, kindly turning them down.

Ryosuke looked at them as if he wanted to take him up on the offer but turned them down. "No thanks."

"They're menthol lights. Atsushi has been trying to get me to quit. Not as good as the regular Marbolo but it's sweet nicotine so I don't complain."

Briefly Ryosuke looked at Mizusawa as if begging to have a social smoke. During their fight he DID have a cigarette and that did give him the itch to have some nicotine. Mizusawa shrugged, one really couldn't hurt and it was menthol light. "Thanks," Ryosuke smiled, taking a cigarette and lighting it. He inhaled deeply, pulling blowing out, sighing in satisfaction. "Tastes so damn good."

"Didn't even cough. You habitual smoker?"

"Was. I quit when I joined gymnastics. Last time I had a cigarette was about two months ago, and I got into a fight with my…girlfriend."

Atsushi smiled at him. "Hiko and I aren't one to cast stones, considering our relationship. So no need to hide. You two are dating, right?"

"Yeah, we're dating," Ryosuke confirmed.

"Well don't be to loud, because we'll hear you," Atsushi teased.

"Assuming they actually have sex, kid seems to sweet to be the type to be kinky."

"That's what you said about me, Hiko, and look where we are."

"Atsushi, you were the nerd I bullied that got off on it. You were a masochist, not kinky."

"Taku isn't a masochist, but he is kinky. I mean, he's a good boy that has a thing for yankees, even got his ear pierced for me," Ryosuke smirked proudly.

"Ryosuke, can we please finish unpacking? We are almost done," Mizusawa pleaded, leaving the apartment and back down the stairs. He did NOT want to have a 'my uke is better than your uke' contest.

-o-o-o-

"You two are late," Kiriyama scolded, pushing down on their heads. "You're lucky I like you or I'd make you do back hand springs until your arms fell off. Also, congratulations on passing the entrance exam, Tsukimori. Heard you made top 15."

"Don't know how, but whatever."

"Yeah, whatever. On the mats," Kiriyama demanded pushing them forward. "Alright. Next week we have auditions. We have two spots to fill on our team and we accept nothing but the best. Which means for you rookies, you'll be showcased, because you didn't get on this team by luck. Araki, you'll perform with them."

The boy nodded his consent.

"So, let's get to practice, warm-up then rookies and Araki, I want you on the second mat working on the performance piece for auditions."

-o-

"We need to work on being in-synch with each other. Since we are unfamiliar with each other," Yuuta suggested.

"Especially with those overlay techniques, I don't want a knee to the head thank you," Ryosuke added.

"It's a basic four person overlay," Araki spoke in, his voice barely above a whisper.

"The routine that Karasumori performed, the original one. Perform it for the auditions. First tumbling pass, make them layout with a somersault controlled falls. Watch the timing, Araki stay with Mido and Takenaka I'm worried about their timing. Group tumbling pass, triple backs with full back, hit the landing hard. Third tumbling pass, Araki take the layout. The overlay I want Takenaka, Mido, and Tsurumi to take it. The second overhead will be Mizusawa and Tsurumi. Layouts on all those stunts. Final tumbling pass with the stunt. Araki and Tsukimori will take the tumbling up the middle, the other four tucking layouts. Tsukimori up the middle, half rotation roll. Mido is the lightest, the four of you will take Mido and toss him up. Mido full rotation. Catch him, Araki will do a layout over him and you toss Mido up. Mido, rotate and fall to the ground on extended fours. That's it," Kiriyama told them. The rest was dancing, extensions, and techniques they should have mastered.

"Start from the beginning then," Araki ordered. He would be the only one that didn't know the routine yet. But if Mido and Tsurumi were worth anything they'd have the choreography memorized from when they saw it performed. "Music!"

-o-o-o-

"Woah, nice! Very nice!" Wataru complimented looking around the apartment. "I want my own place but I'm still hold up inside kaa-san's."

"You guys are lucky, I would love to have a place like this," Nippori commented, taking a seat on the bed.

"Uh..Nippori, I wouldn't sit there if I were you," Kaneko commented.

Nippori looked at him with confusion. "Why can't I sit here?"

"Don't worry about it Nippori, we washed the sheets this morning," Ryosuke smiled. "Na, Taku?"

Nippori immediately sprang up, whining to Wataru about sitting in a very bad place. Hino sighed, shaking his head. "There's not may places to sit in a one room apartment. You shouldn't be weirded out by sitting on a bed."

"Hino, you're still innocent, do you KNOW what they do in this bed? They touch and hug and do other…things."

"Well if you don't want to sit in a place we've had sex then you should leave now, because I'm pretty sure I've fucked Taku every place imaginable in this apartment."

Nippori got this look of uncomfortable disgust, before Wataru pulled him down. "Chill, Nippori, it's no different than being in your parents bedroom. As long as they wash the shit, there's no problem."

"Sempai, I'm thirsty, you guys have anything to drink."

"Oh, just tap water. Ryosuke drank the last of the tea last night," Mizusawa told him. "But there's a vending machine downstairs. Just go down the stairs and to the right, it's in the laundry room."

"Thanks," he nodded, getting up and exiting the room, Nippori still complaining about the 'sex chamber'. Walking down the stairs he hung a right to indeed see the laundry with it's bright red cola machine. Entering he walked to the machine to see it's selections.

"I haven't seen you before."

Hino turned to see a light blue haired man sitting atop a washer, a volume of English literature open in his lap. "I'm visiting friends."

"Oh. That explains it. I'm Akihara Atsushi. I live just down the hall. You are?"

"Hino Tetsuya."

"Who you visiting?"

"Tsukimori Ryosuke and Mizusawa Taku," he answered, still staring at the vending machine.

"Oh! I see. I rather like them, so does Hiko and that is saying something. We live below them, me and my boyfriend, Hidehiko."

"Congratulations."

"Not very loquacious are you?"

"I'm thirsty," Hino answered, trying to determine which drink he wanted.

"You look like the type to like water. I have water bottles on that chair, feel free to take one," Atsushi smiled, motioning to the chair by the wall. Hino looked to in fact see a few un-opened water bottles. He'd rather not spend 70 yen on a drink that was 86 percent sugar, so took the stranger up on his offer.

"If you live down the hall why are you sitting in here?"

"Kadogawa-san, three doors down, not exactly all there. He wonders down here and will take clothes from the dryer when it buzzes and hide them. He never remembers where he hides them either. So we've taken to just sitting out in here till the laundry gets done. I do my English homework or whatever else needs to be done."

"I see. Well it was nice meeting you Akihara-san, but my friends are waiting."

"It was nice meeting you to Tsuya-chan, hope to see you around a bit more," Atsushi smiled. Hino looked at the older man in suspicion.

"I'm not gay, if that's what you're thinking."

Atsushi laughed, the washer beneath shaking slightly. "Never said that did I? I like making new friends, but now that you mention it, you are rather cute. Probably about to turn 18, but you look like you're 16 or younger."

"Right. So I'll be…"

"Damnit Atsushi, what's taking you so long? I plan to take a shower before I have to go to work and all my fucking clothes are being washed….whats with the jailbait."

"That's Hino Tetsuya-kun, he's a friend of Ryosuke and Taku's."

"Right. My clothes, before I take your like you are always taking mine."

"That's different, Hiko, when I take your clothes it's after I've rolled out of bed and don't want to wear my own. Yours are comfortable. And I only wear them around the apartment NOT outside. You know you like seeing me in your clothes."

"Fair enough," Hiko smirked. "So jailbait, you're rather fit, you an athlete."

"Gymnast," he answered, half inching towards the door. "Why do you keep calling me 'jailbait'?"

Hiko smirked at the boy, pinning him against the wall before he could blink. The man was fast. "Because you're jailbait, or would you prefer shota, because I think that name rather suits you."

"Hiko, don't show off. You may have been a track star in middle school but that doesn't mean use your speed to pin young boys to the wall."

"He can't be that much younger than us, what are you 18?"

"17," Hino answered, now really wanting to leave.

"See? Not to young. I'm 23. Atsushi over there is 22."

"And a half, thank you."

Hiko rolled his eyes. "He's 22. Age is beside the point, your cute and I want fresh meat. I want a new toy, and you look like you'd be a whiner. I like them loud."

"Hiko, back-off…"

"Come on, Atsushi, you know you've always wanted a third. A little toy we can play with, someone to spoil. Think of how loud he'd be getting fucked. I'd like to hear that."

Atsushi hopped down from the washer, stepping between Hino and his boyfriend. "Enough. Hino-kun, I apologize for his behavior. He's a little rowdy at times."

"I wasn't bothered," Hino answered, keeping a stoic mask in place. Inside he was screaming that this was happening to him.

"Again, I apologize, please feel free to leave."

Hino nodded, sliding away from the two men, and heading for the door. "But if you're ever looking for a good time, you know where to find us," Hiko called after him, earning a hit from his lover.

"You're horrible," Atsushi laughed.

"Yeah, you love me," Hiko smirked, pulling his lover to him, nipping at his lips. Hino watched the two for a brief moment before turning back down the hall to the stairs. He truly didn't understand how another person was meant to justify one's meaning. He had tried dating Mari-chan, but the older girl felt more like a sister than a romantic interest. He didn't understand how Tsukimori-sempai went form 8 girls that made him happy to one boy that made him ten times happier. It was incomprehensible how in love Satoshi was with Kiyama even though Kiyama was in Shizuoka for the entire break. The manager was always smiling, always laughing, jumping whenever his boyfriend would call. Hino didn't understand depending on another person like that. Maybe he never would.

-chapter 15 owari-


	16. Chapter 16

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

"Tsukimori, let your arms flow with the movements. The movement should look like water or air. Even with the strong movements there should still be fluidity to them," Kiriyama instructed. "Mizusawa has fluidity. Can he help you without you getting a hard-on?"

Ryosuke glared at his captain, raising his middle finger at the older male.

"Mizusawa, help him through the movement. Tsurumi, help Takenaka on his tumbling, he's got speed but we need height. Araki, walk Mido through the motions of being a flier. We don't need him killing himself on a stunt."

"Hai!" they yelled, going to their respective partners to work on what needed to be done.

"Was it just me or was Hino acting odd the other day," Mizusawa questioned, showing Ryosuke the first few steps in the choreography.

"Probably ran into our neighbors," Ryosuke answered, repeating the movement as gracefully as he could manage. "Doesn't Akihara hang out in the laundry room?"

"I wonder what they could have said to him."

"Who knows? Hino is Hino. If he wants us to know he'll tell us."

"I guess you're right. Don't flail your arms, flow.." Mizusawa smiled.

-o-o-o-

Why was this still bothering him? It happened three days ago so why was it still on his mind? He didn't understand it at all. He couldn't ask his brother, because his brother was into girls not guys. Though until recently Hino had thought he had been into girls too. Now he found himself contemplating what it would be like to be spoiled by the two older males. To be babied a bit like Ryosuke babied Mizusawa. No, better yet like Kiyama coddled Satoshi. Always worrying if he was alright. Always there to catch him. Always there to raise his spirits.

Hino had never had anyone like that. He had friends now, but they treated each other equally, no one specifically cared for him. His father hadn't been the coddling type wanting to raise athletes. Even though his brother was kinder, he was never the type to have a 'brother complex' or worrying excessively. His mother, well, she was kind, but unlike most mothers she didn't coo over her baby son or spoil him.

The second thing he couldn't understand was the appeal of sex. Why did Tsukimori like it so much? Why did Mizusawa, who was previously rather innocent, crave it so much? Kiyama? Satoshi? What was the big deal about having sex? Wasn't it all sweat and messy? What was the appeal of having another person's body fluids on your body? Was he missing the grander design?

"I must be crazy," he sighed, grabbing his wallet and leaving his home.

-o-

"Hino-kun," Atsushi blinked, when he opened the door. He was not expecting to see the Senior High student at his place. "Come in," he smiled, stepping aside. Hino stepped inside the apartment that was so much like the one above it. The only difference was the placing of furniture and the colors. But they were about as clean as Tsukimori and Mizusawa were. The yankee of the relationship was the one that seemed to like to throw clothes about. An ashtray set on a glass coffee table full of burned out butts. Books were scattered on a tan couch, and adult DVDs were stacked on the lamp table next to the couch. Hino could tell they weren't regular adult movies but were instead all male casts.

"Sorry, Hidehiko isn't the cleanest person, you can sit at the table. I'll get you some tea or milk or coffee."

"Tea is fine," Hino answered, taking a seat at the two person dining room table. Atsushi ducked into the kitchenette, returning a moment later with two bottles of iced tea. He laughed nervously and commented that he really hated making his own.

"I would have thought Hidehiko scared you off for good, so why are you here?"

Hino shrugged, uncapping the sweet tea and taking a drink. "I've been wondering why people need significant others. Why are relationships important? Why is sex so important? Isn't it just for procreation?"

"You really haven't gotten outside the gymnastics box much have you? You're probably one of those boys that was sheltered and raised only to think about gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics, right?"

"Yeah, my dad is an Olympic coach and he's pushed me and my brother to be Olympians since the day we could walk."

"Ah. So you've never experienced life. No wonder you are confused. Hidehiko was that way in Junior High, both his parents had been track stars before he was born. Hurdles, high jump and 100m were his mom's events. Vault, 100m, and long jump were his dad's. Naturally, he ran 100m, was tops at all the dashs. Even Hurdle. Had the Junior High record for long jump and triple jump. Second best on vault. He was the world class athlete, bound for the Olympics no doubt, but then he quit. Got fed up with it. With the pressure. His parents. Half the time he didn't even think his parents knew his name. They always called him 'our little Olympian' or 'little champion' or 'star athlete'. So he quit. Kind of became a rebel, not exactly a yankee but he rebelled. We met my final year of Senior High, at a tennis tournament, he was smoking behind the park wall. It was kind of a love at first sight kind of thing. Needless to say, the vow to my parents that I would stay pure was broken and very quickly. Dating Hidehiko, having sex with him, it was a whirl wind. It was everything neither one of us had experienced. I didn't end my tennis career but tennis was no longer important to me, he was. I just HAD to be around him. To breath. To live. Had to have his touch, his caress, his kisses…EVERYTHING."

"Just from looking at him that once? Just once and you wanted to depend on this person for the rest of your life? A stranger?"

"Yep," Atsushi smiled. "One instance is all it takes. When you fall in love, it's the best feeling in the world."

Hino looked at the strange blue hair man sitting next to him. A passing thought flew through his head and before he could stop his body, he was leaning forward kissing Atsushi, and Atsushi was kissing back.

-o-

Hidehiko yawned, digging out his keys. Working two jobs sucked, but he really had no urge to go back to school. He got a first level degree and that's all he needed, fuck whatever else came after that. Finding the apartment key he inserted it, surprised to see the door unlocked. Opening the door he called out to his lover only to freeze. He blinked a couple of times before smirking, taking the keys out of the door and closing it. "Don't let me interrupt," he smirked, entering the apartment and taking a seat on the couch. "Please do continue."

He hadn't expected to come home and see his lover with jailbait pinned beneath him. Nor did he expect the man to be fucking said boy, but it was a nice surprise. A very nice one indeed. "Is he loud, Atsushi, a screamer?"

"God yes," Atsushi moaned, descending to Hino's neck, biting enough to make the boy cry out in pleasure. "Sensitive too. Never b-been touched," he groaned. Hino moaned in delight, one hand digging nails into Atsushi's back, the other threaded through blue locks.

"Pull him up into your lap, I want to see you inside him," Hidehiko ordered, his breath just above a husked whisper. Atsushi nodded, carefully pulling out and laying back, pulling Hino with him. Hino obviously was at a loss as what to do so Hidehiko, out of the kindness of his heart, came to the boy's aid. "Scoot up.."

Hino did as told, scooting up Atsushi's body slightly. Hidehiko pulled his lover, before ordering Hino to sink onto him, slowly take the other man in inch by inch. Hino whimpered low in his throat at the feel of being penetrated again, the hard pulsing flesh completely encased inside his body. "Scream for us, Hino-kun…"

He resisted, biting his bottom lip as Hidehiko gripped his hips, bouncing him up and down on the hard arousal. However, when the flesh inside him struck his prostate, he cried out, pushing back to feel that again. "Time to corrupt us some jailbait," Hidehiko smirked, pulling off his shirt.

-o-o-o-

"Come on, let me crash," Wataru begged, following Ryosuke through the apartment complex. They were walking randomly through the building, but Wataru had the suspicion Ryosuke was trying to lose him. "I'm your best friend, and you use to crash at my place all the time. One night."

"No! You know, Taku and I like to have private time."

"You can survive one night, I'll crash on the couch."

"Wataru…"

"Fine, I'll just ask Mizusawa, he'll say yes. He is always the nice one, helping friends in need," Wataru declared. He made a note to run for the stairs the moment they rounded to corner. If he got to Mizusawa before Ryosuke he'd definitely say yes. Ready to put his plan into action he skidded to a halt. Ryosuke yelling a 'what the hell, Wataru?' at the sudden stop. Wataru motioned down the hall to where the former baby of their team exited an apartment.

His tan skin was gleaming with sweat and his clothes were ruffled. The boy pushed his hair back with one hand, smirking to the inhabitants of the apartment.

"He looks…"

"Thoroughly fucked," Ryosuke finished, staring at the boy.

"I'll give you a ride home, can't have you walking around Tokyo like that," the cocky voice of Hidehiko said. The man exited the apartment, putting an arm around Hino's shoulders leading him away. "I'll be back in a minute. Don't shower, it'd be a waste of time."

"We've got to follow them," Wataru jumped.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What if that guy hurts Hino? He could be a rapist or something. I mean, Hino looks fucked, you said so yourself. What if it was against his will?"

"Wataru, I'll let you stay over if you just drop it. If anything is wrong, Hino will tell us, got it?"

"Got it," Wataru nodded before smiling like the Cheshire cat. "I call bed! You guys can have the couch!"

"LIKE HELL!"

-o-o-o-

How it happened he wasn't sure. He truly wasn't. But he found himself in an odd three-way relationship with two other men. At least now he understood the appeal to sex. It was fun. A LOT of fun and it made him feel alive. It was like a high you couldn't get enough of once you started. He needed more and craved more. Suddenly it was all to clear why Ryosuke loved it so much. Why Mizusawa, Kiyama, Satoshi craved it so much. Being that close and intimate with another person was actually nice.

"So I'm not the type to just have a toy," Atsushi smiled. "Even if Hidehiko is. I want you to be my boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend," Hino pointed out.

"Yes, but I can have two. I'll spoil you, Tetsuya. I really want someone to spoil, I always have."

"And Hidehiko-san is find with this?"

"He fucked you, did he not? He may be crass but he's not a man-whore. He wouldn't fuck someone unless he really wanted to. We both like the idea of a second boyfriend, someone we can spoil and cuddle and adore. Please, Tetsuya."

Hino looked away for a moment before shrugging, determining the idea didn't seem like to much of a bad one. "Only if Hidehiko-san stops calling me jailbait."

"Done! How about we go out to dinner to celebrate, I'm hungry and Hidehiko will be getting off work here soon. Completely on us," Atsushi smiled.

"Sure, I guess."

"GREAT!" Atsushi beamed.

"Anou..Atsushi-san?"

"You can call me Atsushi, you don't need the -san."

"Atsushi, why is your hair blue?"

"Accident when I was a kid. My sister though it would be funny to put bleach in my shampoo, and when I washed my hair, well…it kind of stayed. No one could figure out why my black hair turned blue, but they surmised it was a mix of the chemicals from the bleach and the shampoo. Now it's permanent. Don't ask me how, I always expected my hair to grow back out black, but…"

"That's weird, sempai."

"Not sempai. I'm your boyfriend now. You can just call me Atsushi or koi, I don't really care."

Hino blinked. "Koi?"

"Like koibito. You're so sweetly innocent, Tetsuya-kun."

"Tadaima," Hidehiko grumbled, entering the small abode and throwing his keys on the table. "Hey, jailbait, back for seconds?"

Hino gave the eldest male a glare.

"Hiko, Tetsuya agreed to be with us under the condition you no longer call him 'jailbait'."

"Take the fun out of everything," Hidehiko sighed, running a hand over Hino's cheek. "Fine, you'll be my Shota then," he smirked, kissing the boy softly on the lips.

Hino was going to protest but Atsushi stopped him. "He called me Midori for the first 6 months of our relationship. He was going to go with Ao but decided on Midori. It will pass, let it work its way through his system and then he'll call you Tetsuya again."

Hino sighed in defeat, nodding. "Fine."

-o-o-o-

"Damn they are loud," Ryosuke complained, rolling over in bed. He may be dating a guy but that didn't mean he wanted to hear other guys going at it.

"I swear I saw Hino-kun here earlier, and they do seem louder than usual."

"Don't even suggest it."

"But it makes sense. Maybe he's together with them, like a trio or something, like Wataru said."

"Taku, please, don't listen to Wataru. Bad idea listening to Wataru's theories," Ryosuke groaned, throwing an arm over Mizusawa's waist. "The only time Wataru has good theories is when fights are involved, otherwise…."

"It's still plausible," Mizusawa nodded.

"No plausible. Go to sleep, we have auditions tomorrow. Don't want to bust my ass."

"Ryosuke.."

"No Ryosuke. Sleep," the light haired yankee muttered, starting to fail asleep despite the noises below them.

Mizusawa smiled softly, kissing his boyfriend on the forehead. "Oyasumi."

"O-ya-su-miiiiiiiii," Ryosuke yawned.

-chapter 16 owari-


	17. Chapter 17

Title: Tambourine Rabu

Show: Tumbling/タンブリング

Rating: M

Pairings: Tsukimori Ryosuke/Mizusawa Taku, side Kiyama Ryuichiro/Tsuchiya Satoshi

Summary: A bit of serendipity keeps the boy's dream of Nationals alive. Will new found relationship problems and sexual tension shatter this dream to pieces?

Disclaimer: Do not own this show or any of the actors within or their characters.

Tambourine Rabu

Ryosuke laid back in the stands, relaxing as they filled with hopefuls for the rhythmic gymnastics team. He had gotten use to sleeping with his boyfriend, and sleeping without him did him no good. He had fallen asleep with his boyfriend securely in his arms but when he woke up he found Taku on the couch and Wataru sprawled out on the bed. This sucked horribly. Wataru had probably came by late night and Mizusawa being the saint let the red-head yankee crash with them again. Probably offered to let Wataru crash on the bed next to his best friend, while he took the couch. Ryosuke hated and loved how sweet Mizusawa could be.

"Tsukimori, we need to warm up soon," Tsurumi told him.

Ryosuke waved him off saying he'd be there in a minute. The moment his limbs woke up and he could move correctly that is.

"You get lost yankee?"

"Fuck me," Ryosuke cursed, tilting his head back to see the preppy boy from the exams standing over him. "You look like a gay clown dressed you. Your mom pick that out?"

The boy looked offended, before taking a seat crossing his legs with a huff. "I dress myself thank you very much." He found nothing wrong with his choice of salmon and lavender work-out wear.

Ryosuke raised an eyebrow. "You gay?" A few of the surrounding boys looked at them, eyes on Asahi. The boy coughed uncomfortably, uncrossing his legs and spreading them slightly before leaning forward.

"Course not," he said, trying to sound manly. "Are you?"

Ryosuke shrugged. "Not your business."

"Whatever. Today is auditions, you can't be in here. Go hang-out somewhere else."

Ryosuke shrugged again, closing his eyes to try and relax.

"What a turn out," Kiriyama awed looking at the large group of boys. "50 hopefuls and only 3 spots to fill. I get to crush 47 hopes today. What a great day."

"Prick," Ryosuke scoffed.

"Excuse you, he's a top elite gymnast and the buchou of this club," Asahi scoffed, obviously offended.

"Let's start with something simple, if you can't do an arabesque…" Takada demonstrated behind him. "…then get the hell out of my gym, and if you can't do a deer handstand…." Once again Takada demonstrated. "Please allow the door to hit your ass." No one moved from their spots, staring Kiriyama down as if to say, 'I'm tougher than you are'. "Good, because I don't have time to train amateurs…"

"You're still here, Tsukimori, thought you would have runaway by now," Asahi taunted, a proud smirk on his face.

"Which brings me to my next set of stunts. Layouts, back hand springs, Arabians, back tucks…if ANY of these terms are unfamiliar to you, kindly leave." No one moved, still giving the buchou the stare down, daring him to throw something harder at them. "Wonderful, normally we have about 10 guys walk out by this time. Well, ladies, let's get to it then. Before the school year ended last year we added five new members to our team. Elite gymnasts on full scholarships. We'd like to showcase their talents to you now, to show you what it takes to make it on this team."

Asahi smirked when Ryosuke finally got up and left the stands. He was getting tired of that yankee anyways. "They are led by second year Araki today, but maybe a couple of you will join them. Rooks, if you would." Kiriyama stepped off the mat, the team of six walking along the edge. They walked onto the mat, Ryosuke flipping Asahi the bird with a smirk.

The boy scoffed, questioning. "Is this a joke?"

The music began and the performance was set in motion. Asahi's jaw dropped. This wasn't a joke. That yankee was a gymnast, an elite gymnast. No amateur could dance and tumble like that on a whim, it took training and lots of it. He couldn't believe the boy he had sat next to in exams was the same person performing now. The yankee had laughed not because of rhythmic gymnastics but because he IS a rhythmic gymnast. The only boy that caught his attention more than the yankee he had misjudged was the dancer, the one that took center. He was extremely cute, and talented, and graceful.

He may have lied outloud and said he wasn't gay, but inwardly he could tell the truth. The truth was he wanted to know that boy's name, and maybe get his email. He was fiercely beautiful. Asahi was determined to work with that boy.

The performance ended to a bout of applause. "Now you see what elite is to this gym. Give a round of applause for our rookies. Takenaka, Tsurumi, Mido, Tsukimori, and my personal favorite Mizusawa," Kiriyama announced, smirking at Ryosuke as he said Mizusawa.

Asahi felt his heart flutter at the name. Mizusawa. That was the dancer's name. He wondered what his given name was. Maybe something that started with 'hi' or perhaps 'tsu'. Maybe a 'ta' or a 'chi'. A 'chi' would suit him well, like a Chiaki or Chitose. Though Chiaki did fit his appearance it didn't roll well with Mizusawa.

"We'll break you off into groups of 10, each rookie will be the leader and run you through the paces. Myself and vice captain Takada will monitor you, if either one of us tap you on the shoulder you are done, please collect your things and leave. When we are down to ten we'll begin solo auditions and from there we'll pick the three to take the spots. So, Mido, Mizusawa, Tsurumi, Tsukimori, Takenaka, step forward. Come down and stand behind one of the leaders and we'll begin."

Asahi immediately hustled down the stairs to make himself acquainted with Mizusawa. "I'm Asahi Shunsuke."

Mizusawa smiled kindly, bowing his head to the other teen. "Mizusawa Taku, yoroshiku."

"Yoroshiku," he smiled back, noting the name worked perfectly for him.

Once the groups had gathered Kiriyama split them up among three mats. 20 each on two mats and 10 on the last. Mizusawa smiled as he got paired up to co-leader with Yuuta. "We'll start with five minute arabesques. Mizusawa, care to demonstrate."

"Hai," he nodded, sweeping down before lifting into the movement.

"Arms straight, leg high, toes pointed," Yuuta told them, pointing out all things needed. "Thank you, Mizusawa."

"Not a problem, Yuuta," he smiled, getting a friendly smile back from his friend. On the count the candidates raised into arabesques, breathing evenly as if this would be easy. Before a minute even hit, Kiriyama had none to gently knocked out two boys from each group. Kiriyama walked by Mizusawa telling him to go ahead and take them into the deer handstands. Mizusawa nodded, allowing Yuuta to demonstrate before having the try-outs demonstrate their handstands. In less then a second Kiriyama had already knocked a candidate to the floor with a 'better luck next year'.

"Yoshiro, stop abusing the candidates."

"Baby, this is my team, I'll abuse them as I want, and I'll punish you later for trying to tell me how to run my team."

"I'm so scared," Takada sighed, walking amongst the group, taping boys gently whose form was not cutting it.

"You should be, you won't be walking the next week when I'm done with you."

"Shiro, that's not a punishment that's a treat. Means you get to pamper me all day long."

Kiriyama smirked at his boyfriend. "I love you."

"I know you do. Tsukimori-kun, take them into back hand springs, standing."

"Hai," Ryosuke nodded, not minding taking orders from the vice captain. Together he and Tsurumi demonstrated the back hand spring laps they would be doing, telling them they were free to stop at the line and turn before going back or doing a twist as Tsurumi demonstrated.

"Mizusawa-kun, are buchou and fukubuchou dating?" Asahi asked, as others started their lap.

"Yes. They are very open to homosexuality in this club. A fair few members are gay, well, at least I know of five out of the club that are."

"Oh?" Asahi was praying that Mizusawa was one of those five. "Do you live in the dorms?"

"Off campus, in the apartment complex down the block. I have a roommate and we split the rent. Really our parents are paying for it, but you know how that is."

He didn't really but he could act like he did. "Is your roommate someone you close to?"

"Yeah," Mizusawa smiled. "Tsukimori-kun is my roommate."

Asahi's face fell. "Tsukimori? The yankee…?"

"That's right," Mizusawa smiled. "Oh, it's your turn, Asahi-kun."

The boy nodded, taking off in well executed back hand springs, at least by Kiriyama's standard as he did not hip check the boy out of the room. An hour later Kiriyama was satisfied with 10 candidates left and dismissed the rest of the team till tomorrow. The rookies stayed behind to cheer on the last remaining candidates. The trials took a whole 30 minutes before Kiriyama called them to a end, declaring he knew who he wanted and who he didn't. Asahi Shunsuke's name was at the top of the list. The seven boys that didn't make the team, Kiriyama gave a 'better luck next year' and they went along their ways. The gym emptied out quickly till Asahi was the only one standing in the empty room. He had always dreamed of doing group tumbling but because of tutors and home schooling he never got the chance. Now he had the chance he always wanted.

"Hey, rook, go shower and get gone, don't want you hanging around here alone," Kiriyama called, arm thrown over Takada's shoulder.

Asahi acknowledged his captain, running to the club room that was now equally his. He was more than ecstatic to see his named locker, positioned between Mizusawa Taku and Takenaka Yuuta. He was just glad not to be near that Tsukimori. The boy already had two strikes against him. One being a yankee. Two, living with Mizusawa, his new crush. Opening his locker he took out a blue Teito towel, and headed for the showers.

"Don't scream, Mizusawa-kun, I'll only make it hurt more."

Asahi froze hearing his crushes name sneered by his rival. Whimpering cries followed the command, which were mingled with deep groans. Shakily he inched around the corner, just enough to see Mizusawa pressed against the tile wall, his body being forced into with hard thrusts. His faces was contorted in a semi-pained express and his hands gripped at nothing, attempting but only sliding down the slick walls.

What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? He couldn't pull Tsukimori off of the other, Tsukimori would undoubtedly kick his ass and then he'd be the next victim. He could find someone, but by then it would already be to late. He could call the police and report a rape in progress but again it'd be to late before they got there. All he could do is stare and pray that someone came along to help. But no one did, and he was left with the only choice of finding someone to help.

He had managed to find Takada but when they arrived in the locker room, both boys were no where to be found. Asahi was haunted by Mizusawa's pained express that night, and the knowledge he could do nothing but watch.

-o-o-o-

"Mizusawa-kun," he called to his friend the next morning.

"Hai," Mizusawa smiled, as if nothing had happened to him.

"If you need a friend to talk to, or an ear to listen, I'm always here."

Mizusawa looked at the boy in confusion before nodding. "Thank you, Asahi-kun, but I assure you I have friends that will listen."

"Is Tsukimori the only yankee you are friends with?" Please say yes. Please say yes.

"Actually no. I have a group of friends that are all yankees. Four friends total."

Not one yankee, but FOUR! He was in a family of yankees, like the yakuza and they were using him. He would HAVE to save him from that life. Mizusawa was too kind to be in the yakuza. He couldn't be corrupted like that.

"Jump higher, Yuuta! Don't fall on your ass!" a red-head in the stands yelled, waving his arms. Takenaka looked at the obvious yankee with a glare that read death. "Hey, buchou guy, what time is lunch? Me and Kiyama here want to take our old team out to lunch."

"It's at noon, if you are going to be in this gym sit on your ass and keep that mouth shut, or I'll shut it for you," Kiriyama glared.

"Oi, is that a threat? I'll take you on pretty boy, give you some bruises."

"I'm sure you could," Kiriyama smirked.

"You damn right I could," Wataru smirked, climbing on the railing to jump over. "I'll fuck you up nice and good."

"Wataru," Kiyama scolded, matching Yuuta's own scolding.

The red-head scoffed, backing off but pointing in warning at the buchou. He sat down with a huff and decided to wait like a 'good boy'.

Asahi looked in wide eyes from the red-head to Mizusawa who was smiling fondly.

"Welcome back, Kiyama," Mizusawa smiled with a wave. The boy, Kiyama, nodded with a fond smile before sitting down next to his friend.

Asahi needed to act, fast. So when Kiriyama called for lunch he decided to try and get Mizusawa's attention. "Mizusawa-kun, you want to go to lunch with me?"

"Anou…I would but, my friends and I are going to McDonalds, and Kiyama just got back from Shizuoka. I apologize, maybe next time," he smiled, seeming sincerely sorry.

"Do you mind if I tag along?"

Mizusawa looked over at his friends, shouldering his bag. "I guess not."

Tsukimori glared Asahi down, telling him to back off. Asahi returned the glare, with the message I can be friends with who I want. That's how he ended up following the group of yankees to the McDonalds down the street. Inside another yankee and two dark haired Shota looking boys sat inside waiting. The yankee jumped up yelling 'aniki' to the red-head, telling him he'd already ordered burgers and fries for everyone and that Tsukimori was paying. Tsukimori grabbed the younger boy into a head lock, demanding why he was paying and how he should kick his ass.

"Ryuichiro-sempai," the high-pitched voice of one of the shota boys called. Asahi looked at the boy as he bounded up to the Kiyama person and leaned up, kissing him squarely on the mouth. "I missed you, Ryuichiro-sempai."

"I missed you too, Satoshi."

"How sweet," Wataru cooed.

"Guys, we are supposed to be eating not cuddly," the younger yankee grimaced, from the headlock. Tsukimori released him, plopping down in the booth, patting the seat next to him for Mizusawa. Mizusawa sat down, scooting as close as possible. Asahi made himself at home in the seat next to Mizusawa, happy to feel the boys warmth.

"Oh, minna, this is Asahi Shunsuke. Asahi-kun, that's Wataru, Kiyama, Nippori, Kaneko, you know Yuuta, Satoshi, and Hino. Of course you know Ryosuke, as well."

Mizusawa referred to Tsukimori by his given name? Did he always talk so familiarly of the other boy.

"So Hino, how is it having TWO boyfriends?" Wataru asked with a smirk, making the other boy actually flush.

"It doesn't suck," he answered, sipping on his drink.

"Ohhh, I'm sure it does 'suck'," Wataru smirked, earning a whine from Nippori.

"Wait?" Asahi interjected. "They're both gay," he pointed to Kiyama and Satoshi.

"I'm bi," Kiyama answered while Satoshi nodded.

"He's gay," he pointed to Hino who shrugged. "Anyone else?"

"I'm actually, gay, Asahi-kun," Mizusawa murmured, still a bit uncomfortable with telling people that could potentially be angry. But Asahi was not, inwardly he sang. Screaming 'yes! Yes! Yes! Jackpot' over and over in his head.

"Don't get any ideas though," Tsukimori glared, wrapping an arm around Mizusawa. Leaning in he put a finger under the boy's chin, tilting his head up to kiss him softly. Asahi wanted to push his rival OFF of Mizusawa. He couldn't just kiss him without his consent, that was as bad as raping him.

"You saw us last night, didn't you? Takada came and told me, because he was worried. You're very sweet to worry, Asahi-kun, but Ryosuke wouldn't hurt me," Mizusawa smiled.

"You don't think I noticed the way you were checking out MY boyfriend. Two words, Asahi, back off! Taku, belongs to me!"

"H-he's not property, Tsukimori!"

"Actually, I like being Ryosuke's property," Mizusawa smiled, biting his lip. "It feels nice to be owned," he sighed leaning against the light haired yankee. "I'm sorry if you liked me, but I have someone I really love."

"Not only that, preppy boys with sticks up their asses ain't his type. Taku likes the bad boys, like me," Tsukimori smirked.

Asahi felt his heart break. Not only had his rival won. But the good ones were always taken. Damn it.

-chapter 17 owari-


End file.
